Life After Death Note
by Cameron Kennedy
Summary: Light killed L on November 5, 2004. But then, 6 years later, L wakes up in a hospital bed. He quickly learns that Kira is dead, but as he knows from experience, dead things don't always stay that way... Completed 7/28/10.
1. L's Death

**Author's Notes: Hi all. **

**The very first part of this fanfic has been copied directly from Vol. 7, and then I novelized it so you guys don't have to look through the entire series to figure out what's going on. **

**Disclaimer: Is disclaimed. I own nothing and am taking no credit for the characters or dialogue whatsoever... I guess even with a disclaimer that's not technically legal, but whatever. I did it anyway.**

**Also, if anyone is confused as to what is going on, just keep reading. The whole thing will be explained. Eventually. **

**Remember: R and R! **

* * *

_-This fic is also in the (very slow) process of being editted. Please be patient as some of the chapters vary greatly in quality.-_

* * *

**November 5, 2004  
****7:59 PM**

**(Eight days after the death of Kyosuke Higuchi)**

_Crash._

"What's wrong, Watari?" L got no response. "Watari?"

The computer let out a long tone, and words appeared on the screen:

_All data deleted _

"Deleted data?" Light gasped. "What's going on?" The entire investigation team was crowded around them, horrified and perhaps in shock. None of them knew what was happening…

But L did. His eyes narrowed. "I told Watari that if something ever happened to him, he should erase all the data he can. And to set his system to erase automatically after a certain amount of time."

"If something happened to him…?" Aizawa began.

"You mean," Matsuda stammered, "like death…?"

L thought it through. His eyes were still narrowed. His brain was working at 87% of its capacity. "Where's the shinigami?"

Sochiro whirled around. "Oh yeah, where did…"

If he said any more, L didn't hear it. His brain was working at 93% capacity now. _If Watari is dead… Amane hasn't even seen Watari's face… Did Light Yagami do something when he stepped outside earlier…? But nobody knows Watari's name… _At 98%, he realized, _But a shinigami could…_

That had to be it! The shinigami! "Everyone," he began, "the shiniga—"

He was abruptly cut off as a terrible pain attacked his chest. If he'd had the energy. he would have screamed. His reasoning abilities dropped nearly 50% in a split second, and then... the realization hit him.

He was having a heart attack.

He dully remembered Sochiro saying, "Huh? What's wrong, Ryuzaki?" L couldn't answer.

And then he was falling.

_Down another 24%..._

In his last moments, he remembered being on the floor. Light was supporting his upper body and yelling, "Ryuzaki?" L wanted to say something, _anything_, to the only friend he'd ever had… but then Light's expression began to change.

_Light Yagami…_

Pure triumph radiated from Light's face. If it had been possible, L's eyes would have widened. He knew what it meant, of course. Even with his brain working at 10% of it's capacity and falling, he was certain of what was happening.

And only he knew the truth.

_I knew it…_

_I wasn't wrong…_

_But… _

_I…_

L closed his eyes and died.

* * *

**January 31, 2011  
4:02 AM**

**(Three days after the anniversary of Light's death)**

Doctor Takeshi Mido had never intended to actually do it. His first intent was to study the subject, then to diagnose the cause, and hopefully find a treatment or stop this whole thing along the way. But it had never been his goal to go this far.

He rubbed his eyes. It was no wonder he was tired; it was four o'clock in the morning there in Japan, and even though he had done this schedule for years, staying up so late always drained him of energy. He stifled a yawn, and he mentally scolded himself for being so sleepy. Hell, what was probably the most important moment of his entire career was about to happen, yet here he was almost asleep standing up.

He was startled when his assistant gently knocked on the door frame. "Awake, sir?" he asked politely.

Mido didn't look up. "Yes, I'm as full of energy as... eh, a battery."

His assistant raised an eyebrow. "A battery... running on empty?"

Mido had to suppress a smile. "Exactly."

"We can wait until tomorrow, you know."

The doctor turned and looked at his aide. In seven years, Mido had come a long way. Perhaps he didn't always like where he had come in his career, but there was no turning back now. He had known there was no going back from day one.

"No," he firmly replied, "we do it now, before I can change my mind."

His assistant nodded. "Honestly put." He left a packet of IV fluid on a counter top and left the room.

Mido took a moment to think it all over. Lying next to him, in a hospital bed, was a patient. A _dead_ patient. Mido was still amazed and surprised at the decision that had been made for this man several years ago. With long black hair and huge eyes, the body was perfectly preserved. _Thank God for freezers_, Mido thought sourly to himself.

He decided it was time to stop reminiscing. This project had been going on for, what, seven years now? In the grand scheme of life, that wasn't so long, but he was a doctor, and the goal of being a doctor was to help people through sickness and injuries. He hadn't helped anyone in that sense for years.

But he was going to help someone tonight.

...Hopefully.

He walked over and picked up the IV packet his aide had left. He went over to a stand next to the hospital bed, hooked it up, and took a deep breath. He observed the tubes and wires that were already inserted into the patient. After deciding that he was ready, he took another deep breath.

Slowly, Mido inserted the final IV into the arm of the body.

* * *

After extensive surgeries, one percent of his brain was working.

_Just_ one percent.

No, not even that much. Half of a percent was working, maybe. Probably less. A tenth of a percent. A twentieth, perhaps?

In theory, the number had to reach ten percent before he could regain consciousness. But also in theory, he shouldn't even have a working brain at all.

Technically, he was _dead_.

But medicine had worked miracles on the world in modern times. Some diseases that had been incurable were unheard of now. Broken bones healed faster than ever before. People didn't die from sickness like they used to. Of course, Kira had sort of made a mess out of this, but otherwise, science was pressing forward in ways that were never known before.

It was taking a giant leap in Doctor Mido's underground hospital.

Slowly, as the medicine in the IV spread through his veins, conscious thoughts began to appear. Thoughts that, at first, had gaps in them. There was something he had to remember... Something important...

_Light... _

_I... _

_You..._

One percent. Something beeped on a monitor next to the hospital bed, but he didn't hear it-his ears weren't working just yet.

_Watari... _

_Dead... _

_How...?_

Two percent.

_Shinigami... _

_Then... _

_I... was right..._

Four percent.

_Thirteen days... that rule... _

_It must be... fake..._

Six and a half.

_So he... but that means... that Kira..._

_Kira. _

That name _definitely_ sparked a memory.

Nine and a half.

Almost there.

_Kira... _

_Is... _

_Light._

_Light Yagami is Kira._

L's eyes snapped open.


	2. The Awakening

**January 31, 2011****  
4:19 AM  
(About an hour before L wakes up)**

Standing next to his patient, Mido anxiously waited. He hoped it would work, but at the same time he was doubtful that this was the right thing.

_I'm beginning to play God... _Kira_ played God. _

_Am I going too far?_

He looked around for something that might distract him, but there wasn't anything of much interest in the room. A counter-top. A few cupboards. A clock. A couple chairs.

The doctor yawned.

_Dammit_, _why do I have to feel so tired _now_, of all times?_

Well, he supposed, it _was_ four in the morning. He could sleep in a chair... No, he shouldn't. His patient could wake up at any time. Or it could be in a few hours. Or six...

He could get a short nap in, couldn't he?

He glanced at the chair longingly, and after a moment of mental debate he gave in and sat down.

Without realizing it, he was asleep in seconds.

* * *

**5:22 AM**

L's eyes bolted open.

_Kira-Light-Watari-Investigation-Criminals-Heart-Attacks-_

_Death._

...

He was supposed to be dead.

Actually, no - he _had_ been dead. He knew that much for a fact.

But... this didn't feel like death.

With that thought in mind, he cautiously sat upright.

_A... hospital? _After quickly scanning the rather sparse room, he knew that's where he must be. Some kind of hospital. It was confirmed when he looked down and realized there were some IV needles stuck in his left arm.

L heard a snore. After a moment of confusion, he noticed a man - doctor? - in a white coat asleep in the corner. By habit, he mentally figured the man's measurements. _About five-foot-eleven. Maybe 160 pounds. Chestnut hair?_ L couldn't quite remember what shade of brown chestnut was, but it sounded nice enough for him. L noted that this doctor needed a haircut. _It's possible he's been down here for several months..._

L then realized he doctor wasn't wearing a name tag that he could see. _Smart man_, he thought. _If I were Kira and I knew his name, I could kill him._

Then he realized something else.

_Light-kun... no, just Light... Light is Kira._

_And I may be the only person in the world who knows._

L would have jumped out of the bed immediately and left the hospital as quickly as possible, but he knew that would have been incredibly stupid. There were IVs in his arms, for crying out loud.

And he wasn't completely sure where he was.

Or what _year_ it was, for that matter.

Also, he was hungry.

...Well, the obvious solution was to wake the doctor up. L estimated that the chances he could help were at 99.9%, and the last tenth of a percent only applied if he hadn't gone outside in the last year.

_What can I get his attention with?_

After looking around, L noticed that next to his bed there was a vase with daffodils. He wasn't sure what it was doing there (it wasn't as though there would have been any visitors for him, after all), but he figured it would work alright. With his normal habit of using only his thumb and third finger, he removed the flowers, set them on the table, and deftly threw the now empty vase against the wall.

Well, the vase was mostly empty, anyways. L hadn't considered that the water for the flowers would have made such a large wet spot on the wall. _Oops._

But either way, it had served it's purpose. The doctor awoke with a start and looked around dazedly. "What-?"

"Could you get me some tea with lots of sugar?" L asked innocently.

The man's eyes landed on him and grew to an impressive size.

"...Or maybe just sugar in general...?" L tried again.

For another moment, the doctor didn't move. Slowly he blinked.

"...My God," he finally gasped.

L cocked his head and studied him. _Green eyes..._ "Are you American?"

The doctor, bewildered by the rather random question, shook his head. "English-Japanese."

"Of course. May I have some tea? Heavy on the sugar."

The doctor finally snapped out of it. "Ah... _sure_..." He quickly turned to leave.

"Has Kira been caught yet?"

L hadn't even planned on asking that, but the question had slipped out.

The man stopped briefly and turned to look back at L. "No," he said simply.

He stiffened. "...Oh."

The doctor must have sensed that L was tense, because he added, "They haven't caught him, but he hasn't killed anyone for a year now."

That very easily might have been the best thing L could hear, but his mind was plagued with doubts.

_Kira is no longer killing? If that's true, then Light has probably died... At a 94% chance, at least._

_But he might have given up. Those odds are about 2% or maybe less... Light doesn't give up easily... _

_Or it _could_ have been something else..._

_What happened while I was dead?_

"You said you wanted sugar?" he heard the doctor ask.

"...Yes," L replied numbly, "sugar. Lots and lots of sugar..."


	3. Questions

**January 31, 2011  
5:34 AM**

Mido was curiously observing his patient. The man had wanted tea and lots of sugar, so he had gone and gotten a cup of tea and seven or eight sugar packets. Upon his return, the patient poured _all_ the sugar into the single cup of tea. Mido also noticed that while he wasn't actually complaining, his patient kept on making subtle faces, as though he thought the tea still wasn't sweet enough.

"So, you have a sweet tooth, do you?" Mido asked.

"Meaning a tooth that is made of sugars?" The man glanced up at Mido with his huge eyes. "No, I have no such thing."

Mido wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Its a figure of speech," he answered.

"Ah."

"It means you are fond of sweets."

"Oh! In that case, I have an entire mouth full of sweet teeth."

Mido almost laughed out loud. This man took things too literally. "Well," he said, "I honestly have very little idea of who you are. I didn't know you liked sugar."

The patient cocked his head, studying the doctor. "What an odd thing to mention."

Mido assumed he was refering to the fact that this feeling was not one-sided, and that he didn't know Mido either. "I suppose we might as well start with foods."

The patient drank some tea. "That is not what I was talking about," he said softly.

Mido frowned. "What do you mean then?"

The patient took another sip. "I died. Then I woke up here. Our tastes in food is hardly an important detail."

He said it so calmly. At best, Mido had figured that the man would have been slightly paranoid about the situation. But no, he was perfectly calm and not talking with the slightest hint of fear in his voice.

"You are very... I don't know...?" Mido couldn't think of a good word to finish the sentence.

The patient had more tea. "I believe 'composed' is the word doctor is looking for."

"Perhaps." That reminded him. "My name is Takeshi Mido."

The man didn't even look up as he said, "And now Mido-san will have a heart attack."

"What?"

"Kira kills with only a name and a face. If I were Kira, you could be dead by now."

"Oh." Mido thought that was a rather morbid way of looking at it, but he didn't argue. "You were killed by Kira, you know."

The tea was gone by now. The patient was staring dead ahead with his huge eyes looking at the wall oposite the bed. "Yes," he simply answered

"And... That doesn't make you worried? Or scared?"

"I believe Mido-san told me Kira had stopped killing people."

Mido frowned. "Did I?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Well, I suppose that makes sense." Mido felt the need to add something, so he said, "Why be scared of something that isn't there?"

At what seemed to be a random point in the conversation, the patient changed the subject. "May I borrow a laptop?"

The doctor was rather startled by this sudden request. "Um, no. I'm sorry, but no electronics are allowed here. This hospital can not take the chance of being discovered."

"Hmmm." The man began biting his thumb, lost in thought. "In that case, may I have more tea and a newspaper?"

There didn't seem to be any problems with that. "Sure. Just a moment." Mido turned and left the room.

* * *

_Its a shame_, L thought. _Looking this up on the Internet would be so much easier._

By now, he was completely certain they were in Tokyo: the doctor had a slight accent that he placed from that approximate region. He also felt very slight tremors coming from around him, so he was also 100% certain that this was, literally, an underground hospital.

Now he needed to learn what happened to Light. With any luck, he would be mentioned in the newspaper... if he was still alive. Of course, he'd already determined there was a 94% chance Light had died... It was a long shot, but from a hospital where no electronics were allowed, there wasn't much else L could do. He couldn't even call anyone for answers.

Mido-san came back with more tea and a newspaper. L wryly noticed that he had three times as many sugar packets in his hand. _Good._

Of course, the tea came first. L added all the sugar and took a sip. _Ah, yes._

"Better?" Mido-san asked.

"Yes. Much better." L took a big gulp. This burned his tongue slightly, but he didn't care. _Sugar sugar_ _sugar._

Then he looked at the newspaper date.

All things considered, his reaction was rather mild. But for someone as composed as him, it showed that he was taken completely by surprise. He automatically spit the tea across the room. "How recent is this paper?!" he demanded.

Mido-san winced at seeing the tea on the wall. "Its yesterday's."

"What?! Its 2011?!"

"Well...yes."

L sat quietly for a moment. "I was dead for six years, two months, and twenty-six days." Actually, he had a good idea of how many hours, minutes, and seconds it was also, but he figured the information would be lost on Mido-san. "Why now?"

"...I'm not sure I understand what you're asking."

"Why did you wait so long? Why wait six years?"

"Well, what if Kira learned you were alive?"

L thought about that. If he was discovered alive--which would have happened at an 11% chance, but anyway--if he was discovered alive, Light would have just killed him again. Chances of that were no less than 100%. "A year since the heart attacks stopped," he muttered to himself. To Mido-san: "How many other people have you... revived?"

"Just you."

_Just me?_ "Are there any other current patients?"

"...I don't think you're authorized to know that information."

_Damn._ But that made L think of another important question: "Where exactly do you get victim's bodies?"

Mido-san visibly stiffened. He also raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I've ever studied any sort of--"

"I believe the word is 'logic', Mido-san. Surely I was not the only deceased man you have studied?"

The doctor looked as though he would argue at first, but he realized L had made a good point and chose to answer the question instead. "I have a...connection in the police department that used to get me corpses that had been killed by Kira."

"Who is this connection?"

Mido-san was clearly beginning to be annoyed by all these questions. "I can't tell you that."

Slowly L nodded. "Alright Mido-san. I have one more question then."

The doctor sighed. It wasn't an exasperated sigh, or a weary one. He was slowly exhaling his annoyance. "Alright then."

"Where did you get my body?"

Mido thought long and hard for about thirty seconds. Finally he replied, "It was donated, specifically in hopes of eventually stopping all of Kira's heart attacks."

In truth, that response brought more questions to L's mind, but as promised, he didn't ask any out loud. "Alright. Thank you."

For a moment, there was obvious surprise shown on Mido-san's face. He had apparently not expected such a blunt statement of gratitude. But his surprise quickly turned into a smile. "You're welcome." He left the room.

L looked down at the newpaper that was still sitting on his lap. Slowly he picked it up and began reading.

Not even thirty seconds later, Mido-san came back. "I just realized that I never learned your name."

L smirked.

"Call me Ryuzaki."


	4. Puzzles and Operations

**Author's Notes:**

**Based on the comments I'm getting from everyone, I hope this isn't too boring. I promise, it slowly gets more interesting, starting in the next chapter .****..At least, if I was reading it, I would think it was more interesting. I mean, come on: you get to see L back and everything, but at this point the story isn't that unusual or exciting.  
Geez, if you think this is exciting, then you're in for a treat later. Just be patient.**

**Also, in this chapter, there is a lot of medical stuff explained. I imagined it all totally on my own, with the assistance of Wikipedia.**

**Keep reviewing!**

* * *

**February 6, 2011  
10:54 AM**

L had been sitting in the hospital for a week.

Figuring out what had happened to Kira was his first priority, obviously. He had done everything within his power to discover information about Light, but with no luck at all. For several days he scanned the Japanese metropolitan newspapers, the local newspapers, and papers from other regions of the country.

He found nothing.

Mido, in an attempt to help L, managed to find editions of prominent and regional papers that were published days, weeks, and even months before.

There was still nothing.

As a last resort, L convinced Mido to get him several newspapers from across the world: from England, America, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Iran, Egypt, China, India, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Uganda, South Africa, France, Pakistan, Germany, Canada, Australia, Columbia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean Islands, and--in a final international attempt--he even had the doctor get information from underground news wires that were only available to a very exclusive few. (L was one of the exclusive few, of course. The best detective in the world had access to many exclusive things.)

Nothing.

Zip. Zilch. Nada.

L was getting frustrated.

And, since he'd ran out of papers to read, he was getting bored.

To his credit, Mido tried to entertain L as well as he possibly could. On the fourth day of February, after L had looked through all the newspapers he could find, Mido bought him a book of extremely difficult word puzzles. L took it gratefully, but he knew the instant he received it that he would finish it within the hour. His estimate was close: it took him 56 minutes and 39 seconds.

In another attempt at keeping him amused, the doctor got him several physical kinds of puzzles the next day. For the most part, they were the standard "get the ring off of the whatchamacallit" and "uncouple the two bizarrely twisted thingumabobs" sorts of puzzles. L had finished all ten of them in exactly 22 minutes and 18 seconds.

So on that day, February 6, Mido had tried to distract him with numbers. An American book of sudoku puzzles might have seemed challenging to the doctor, but not to L. At this point, L realized that perhaps he was hurting Mido's feelings slightly because these puzzles were all supposed to be very hard. So, when doing these sudokus, he tried to go much slower then he would have liked to. In theory, it would make it seem as though he was having a more difficult time, but Mido wasn't fooled.

"Ryuzaki," he said an hour and a half after he'd given L the book, "you could go a lot faster if you tried."

"...I believe that is my own personal choice, Mido-san." L was only halfway through the puzzles, and it was killing him.

Mido sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look, it might frustrate me that you go through these things like crazy, but its clearly frustrating you more to try and go slow to make me feel better. You're not."

L looked at Mido with his wide eyes, trying to appear innocent. "Not what?"

"Making me feel better. For God's sake man, I'm a doctor: its my responsibility to make you comfortable. Your feelings come before mine."

L shrugged. It seemed like a good enough reason to go faster. "Well, when you explain it like that..."

He finished the book half an hour later.

* * *

By this point, L had a good idea of what the daily routine was around here. Mido seemed to be there 24/7, probably almost every day of the year. There was a room down the hallway that was apparently some sort of living quarters, and that was where he slept and relaxed.

As far as L could tell, only three other people were ever around this secret hospital. There was the doctor's aide, a blond man in his late twenties who secretly smuggled L Twinkies when the doctor wasn't looking (Mido held the opinion that Twinkies and other American "junk foods" would eventually kill everyone who ate them; L, however, figured that if he died--or just went into a sugar coma--the doctor could revive him again); there was a woman in about her thirties that L figured to be some kind of secretarial/paperwork/cleaning sort of person, as she came in his room late every night to pick up whatever Mido left lying around; and then there was a man who seemed to deliver supplies to the hospital--L never actually saw him, but he heard his voice coming from down the hall approximately every other night. From what L figured, chances of others visiting this hospital hung at 2%...

And then there was Mido. Because he was around L more then L was around any other person during the week, they both had a good idea of the other's personality. To L, the doctor seemed clever enough, and very few things seemed to be hidden from him. If there were any secrets kept from him, it either meant that they were extremely well hidden, or he realized there was something he didn't know and simply chose not to learn more about it. It was obvious that Mido was in charge, too, and he seemed to like it that way. L learned quickly that asking too many questions annoyed him greatly, and although this bugged L, he tried to restrain his nature as a detective and not bother Mido too much. There was this, plus the doctor was almost freakishly obsessed with eating healthy foods (this was why the aide had to sneek L the Twinkies). Amazingly, those were the only two ways that L's personality clashed with Mido's. Otherwise, the doctor appeared to be a good-natured man: he seemed to find humor in everything, didn't take things for granted, and tried to keep everyone as happy as possible.

But that morning, L couldn't resist. He was sitting in bed eating ice cream, and Mido was in a chair next to the bed. They weren't talking much, although L perceived that the doctor was slightly irritated because of all the sugar ice cream contained. _Well, he has to learn to live with it_, L thought, _because I am_ not _giving up sweets. If he really wants to know, I value that event as having a less than 0% possibility of occurring. _But eating the ice cream wasn't what he figured would annoy the doctor most.

"Mido-san," L began, "I've tried not to ask too many questions, but I need to know some things."

To himself, Mido muttered, "Curiosity killed the cat."

L cocked his head. "What cat? I'm curious."

Mido knew L's joke was intentional, and he chuckled. "There is no specific cat, Ryuzaki. It's just another silly expression people use."

"...I don't use it." L had another spoonful of ice cream.

The doctor shook his head. "Never mind. What do you want to know?"

L thought for a moment on how to phrase his question. "Well, first I should like to know: how does one bring someone back from the dead?"

"Ah." Mido thought about his response. "The process and answer is... rather long and complicated."

L shrugged. "I have time."

The doctor considered this. "True. I guess I'm more worried about you not understanding it."

L held back a rather large smirk. "Mido-san, these past few days I've been reading newspapers in countless languages, solving extremely difficult crosswords, taking puzzles apart and putting them back together within seconds, and doing sudokus that most people would consider nearly impossible. Yet you think that I am not capable of understanding?"

Mido shook his head. "Forgive me. That was a stupid thing to worry about."

L had some more ice cream. "I forgive you. Please, do explain this process to me."

Slowly at first, Mido began explaining everything that physically happens when a person dies. How all cell activity stops, how the body stiffens, how blood slowly sinks into bodily tissues, so on and so forth. Although L already knew almost everything the doctor was describing, he remained silent and absorbed all the information.

Then, of course, Mido began to explain how to reverse all these symptoms. This took him a great deal of time to tell L, because the body is such a complicated thing. By far, the most difficult thing to adequately explain was the brain. In great detail, he described how brain cells have to be created and stimulated to restart all bodily functions. He told him how electrical shocks had to be carefully applied to certain lobes of the brain, because otherwise L could have literally lost all his memories and been forced to learn everything again from the same levels as an infant. But brain cells were not the only thing Mido had to grow back: every organ of the body had its own specific kinds of cells that needed to grow again. Some could be stimulated to multiply, but others had to be transplanted through countless surgeries and operations. And, through a miracle of modern science, L had every single drop of blood in his body removed and then replaced again. A certain kind of IV fluid had to be applied in his veins during the process, and though Mido was a bit sketchy on the details, L generally understood what he was talking about. The final detail of this entire procedure was the restarting of L's heart, which Mido said occurred at approximately 4:05 AM on January 31, 2011.

Through the explaination, L sat quietly. He was surprised by how much of the process he could have deduced on his own, yet the doctor had come up with some very clever operation tecniques by himself.

But when Mido finished and sat back in his chair, L realized something was missing.

"Mido-san," he began, "I think I have the idea of what you are describing to me. Yet, I feel as though you are keeping one important detail to yourself."

The doctor frowned. "Ryuzaki?"

"If you got any individual's body to work again, there is a 100% chance that you have a perfectly functioning corpse...but not a living one."

It made perfect sense to L, and Mido got his hint.

Death, though normal, is still a supernatural thing, and it would be physically impossible to make the dead live again without supernatural means.

"...Not much escapes you, does it Ryuzaki?" Mido sighed. "Let me say this:

"There is a single thing that I did to your body that would be considered rather... unorthodox. This final treatment was, indeed, the key to bringing you back to life. If I keep this process a secret, I would never have to worry about any sort of terrible consequences coming from my actions. But if I told the wrong person this secret and it were to fall into the wrong hands, it could very easily be used to bring chaos upon the world as we know it."

The doctor looked L straight in the eyes. "Right now, you are the only person besides me to know it even exists, and I am determined that I will ever be the only one who ever plays God and learns its full potential."

Slowly L nodded. "I respect that decision very much, Mido-san. Perhaps it is better that you keep it to yourself."

"...Right. Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

L paused. "Yes. One other thing, but I'm afraid that your answer for this question will be even longer then the answer for the last one."

The doctor sighed again. "You might as well ask away." Then he chuckled. "If I don't answer you now, I guess you would just ask me some other time anyway."

L shrugged. It was true. "Could you tell me how you...obtained my body? I realize you already told me, but it barely satisfied my curiosity."

"...You mean...tell you in greater detail?"

"Yes. Begin from the beginning."

Slowly Mido nodded. "This is going to take awhile."

He took a deep breath and began speaking.


	5. Mido and Yagami

**Author's Notes:**

**I am soooooo sorry that I have not updated in FOREVER!! And on a cliffhanger, too!! You guys must hate me so much! In all truth I had planned to update exactly two weeks after posting the fourth chapter, but then I wrote it, I was busy, I went on vacation, I was busy again, and when I finally got back to it I decided I didn't like it anymore and scrapped the whole thing!!  
****But now I'm in the process of rereading the series and I'm finding all these inconsistancies with my original version of this chapter, so I personally am glad I didn't put it up until now. **

**Really quickly, I would like to specifically point out that everything Mido-san supposedly did to L to bring him back to life was complete BS, pardon my French. I just wanted to make a note of it because one of my friends thought I was serious about all of it... Which I wasn't. **

**The only other real note I have to add here is that if you didn't pay much attention to the dates/times before, you might want to, starting now, because otherwise you will definitely get confused.  
Don't say I didn't warn you. **

**Keep R&R-ing! THANK YOU TO ALL THE LOYAL FANS OF THIS STORY!!!!!**

* * *

**December 7, 2003  
11:34 PM**

Mido shifted rather uncomfortably in the metal folding chair that had been set up in the hallway of Japan's National Police Agency headquarters. He wasn't sure what the hell he was doing there... For the past few years he had been working for the NPA as the head doctor, a performer of autopsies, and a researcher, but as far as he could tell there was no particular reason, good or bad, that he had been called here today. It was probably standard protocol to be taken into a meeting with a superior from time to time. But why had everyone looked at him strangely when he was told to come here? Maybe it had something to do with all of those criminals going into cardiac arrest--

His thoughts were interrupted when the door in front of him opened. A tall man with broad shoulders and a serious expression stepped out. Mido stood up to shake his hand. The man spoke first. "Doctor Mido, I presume?"

Mido simply nodded in response.

"I am Soichiro Yagami, detective superintendent of the NPA." He quickly flashed Mido an ID. "Please, step inside for a moment."

They both went in and Yagami quickly closed the door. The room was very large and almost abnormally clean, with only a few papers lying about. There was many desks and files, plus a good number of chairs. All of them were empty.

"This is the Kira Investigation headquarters," Yagami explained. "Nobody is here now because it's after-hours."

Kira...? There were rumors about this Kira floating around... "Forgive me, sir," Mido said, "but I've been so busy lately that I haven't had any chance to hear much about any of this..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Yagami said, "you surely must have noticed all the heart attack victims that have been pouring into your office this past week."

"Well, yes. But why...?"

"Every one of them was murder."

Mido's eyes bulged. "Murder?! How is it possible?!"

"Nobody knows, but the culprit has become known as Kira. Several hundred criminals have died throughout the world in the past week alone, and just two days ago the NPA was officially put in charge of the worldwide investigation. We have been working almost nonstop with the legendary detective L to solve the case, but there is another step of caution that I would personally like to take."

Mido wanted more information about the case itself, but he realized it was not his place to ask. "...A step of caution... Such as?"

"It would be extremely beneficial if, perhaps, we could stop these heart attacks before they start."

Before this point in the conversation, Yagami and Mido had been walking casually around the desks. At this mention, however, Mido stopped and looked at him. "You mean... some sort of treatment?"

Yagami frowned. "You don't approve?"

Mido struggled to explain his logic. "Its a good idea, but I'm more worried about how successful it will be." Mido began walking again. "Yagami, you and I know better than almost anyone else what caused all of these cardiac arrests."

Yagami looked confused. "No, I don't believe we do."

Mido made a face. "That's the problem. Certainly I could try and find a way to prevent blocked arteries or greatly reduce the risk of heart failure, but the great majority of these heart attacks occurred in healthy young or middle-aged people. It's one thing stopping cardiac arrest in a seventy-year-old, but in a twenty-year-old..."

Yagami nodded. "So you won't do it."

Mido rubbed his chin while thinking. "...I wouldn't say that just yet. I just need more information... Who would I be working with?"

Yagami walked over to a desk and pulled out several files. "I've compiled a list of promising doctors in the Kanto region that I believe might be interested in this project. If even a quarter of them would accept the job, you would certainly be able to do some good."

There were easily a hundred different doctors listed in all different sorts of medical fields. Mido recognised many of the names. He turned back to Yagami with a curious expression on his face. "...Why are you showing this to me?"

"Well..." Yagami thought for a moment. "...I would like you to head the whole operation."

"What?! ME?!" Mido was unable to hide his surprise.

"Frankly," continued Yagami, "you're the most qualified man for the job. Your resumé would make a staggering impression on any hospital or medical institute in Japan, at least. You have so many degrees that it would be foolish not to put you up for consideration."

Well, Mido couldn't argue with that last fact. He had gotten a record number of minors for his age at the university and only graduated at twenty-two, after all. "Well, consideration, perhaps, but heading the entire project...?"

"...Do you need some time?"

"...Yes, if you don't mind... I'll have to think about it."

Yagami nodded. "Of course. You have the next few days to give me a response."

Both of them walked out of the department, and Mido went to his office. Quickly he finished his day's work and somehow made home to his apartment early.

Which left him more time to think about the job offer.

_Should I take it...? Or is it a waste of my time...?_

Frustrated, he pulled out his laptop. He figured that perhaps if he relaxed a bit and caught up with the rest of society he would be able to think through things more clearly. That and perhaps take a nap.

But as he logged onto his email account, news bulletins kept popping up in the corner of the screen:

_L versus Kira! The Murder Broadcast on Television!  
Kira and L: Police Stunt for Publicity?  
KIRA: Real or Fake?_

There were countless versions, it seemed, but they all appeared to be based off of the same thing... Mido recognized the two names, of course. Yagami had mentioned Kira numerous times, while this "L" had also been brought up... Apparently something very big had happened involving both of them. Out of curiosity, Mido began looking things up about it online.

For the next hour, he was engrossed.

Article after article, website after website, it never seemed to end. He even looked up a video on YouTube about it, where Kira had killed a man pretending to be L live on TV. He could understand why it was creating such a buzz.

He could certainly see why Yagami wanted to solve this case.

_I don't like this Kira, that's for sure_, he thought. _It looks like Kira wants to rid the world of evil... while the police want to rid the world of Kira... Am I willing to take this job and risk everything in the process?_

He thought his life over. He had no family left, since his mother and father had died several years ago in a car accident. He had no romantic relationships, since almost all his time was spent at work. And while his job was satisfying, he felt as though he could do more good doing something else...

Was stopping Kira the way to solve that problem?

He thought about all of that, but it all seemed to come down to a rather basic question: was he willing to risk his life? He wasn't positive, but with a general understanding of human nature he figured he could safely say that Kira would kill those who threatened him or this twisted plan he seemed to have.

_My life on the line..._

_Stopping these deaths..._

_Can it be done...?_

_Well..._

After thinking for a good twenty minutes, Mido smiled at the answer he gave himself.

_What the hell, I'll give it a shot._

* * *

**AN: ...Wow. That turned out waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different than I thought it would. **

**The sad thing is, I haven't even gotten to the part where he gets L's body... *sighs* Next chapter, I absolutely promise!**

**(BTW, I won't be on vacation anymore, which was mostly my problem with typing this stuff up. So now I might actually have semi-regular updates... YAY!!)**


	6. November 7, 2004

**AN:  
Hmmm... After reading chapter four again, I realized that I said chapter five would get more interesting... Crap, I'm not sure that was as riveting as I originally thought it might have been... My apologies.**

**This is non-fic related, but lately I've been amusing myself by studying Japanese... particularly Light's identity and it's meaning. I hate to admit it, but in regards to names, I find Light's much more fascinating than L's... Yagami Raito, spelled with the kanji of night-god moon, meaning yoru-kami tsuki in Japanese and written as 夜神 月... I'm such a geek to have figured that much out, considering I've never spoken or written Japanese before in my life!! But I can't quite figure out how his original name Raito fits in, because from the sheet I've studied it doesn't mean "light" and it has no connection with 月/moon/tsuki either... Ah well, maybe I'll figure it out before I post the next chapter. Or if there's some Japanese guru out there that knows the answer, just send me a heads up or something.  
(BTW, I also figured out that you write the name L as エル and pronounce it kind of like "e-ru" because there literally is no "L" sound in Japanese. YAY FOR L!! ...I really am a dork...)**

* * *

**December 2003-October 2004**

Within two days, the entire project came together, and Mido was in charge of the whole thing. Not all of the doctors on Yagami's list accepted the offer to come and work, but a ridiculous number seemed willing to help part-time. About twenty actually came in regularly as full-time researchers.

No breakthroughs were made very quickly, of course, but nobody had expected to find a cure right away. Most of them had been prepared to spend many months or even years working towards a solution.

But then, in the blink of an eye, the stakes changed: in October, the NPA officially dropped the Kira case.

Upon hearing this, many people quit. Nearly all of them, really. All but one full time doctor left, and about five of the part-time workers still came in. Mido was so short on people that he got worried that they wouldn't get anywhere. He personally had enough money saved up to last for several years if need be, but he was afraid of what the others would do if their bank accounts ran low.

But then, a rather unexpected miracle occurred: Yagami came through for those loyal enough to stay. He had been forced to resign from the NPA in order to keep working on catching Kira, but he apparently was still determined not to give up. He came to Mido one day, and told him of the situation.

"Mr. Yagami," Mido said when the (former) detective stepped into his office. "What brings you here?"

"A proposition," Yagami replied. Before continuing, he glanced around Mido's office. "So this is where you moved the operation to..."

Mido nodded. None of the doctors were permitted to stay in the NPA headquarters when the Kira case had been dropped; consequently, they'd had to temporarily move to another, much smaller building across the city. "It suits us well enough. So many doctors quit that we no longer require nearly as much space to work."

Yagami nodded rather sadly and sat down in a chair. "True... What about money?"

Mido frowned. "Money?"

"You are no longer paid for doing this, correct?"

"Well, no, but money was never the reason I decided to head this project.."

"But what about the other doctors? Are they as enthusiastic as you are about missing their paychecks?"

Mido thought a moment and shrugged.. "I can't really speak for any of them. I have no idea... But I would like to point out that any doctors that were in it for the money left the instant the NPA took them off the payroll."

Yagami cracked a small smile. "I see. Well, that answers my question. From now on I'll see to it that your doctors get twice their weekly salary."

It took a moment to sunk in, but when it did, Mido's eyes bulged to twice the size of his head. "What?!"

"You heard me: all of you will have paychecks twice as big as before.."

He'd said it so casually!! Mido couldn't think of anything to say. "But...HOW?!"

Another smile twitched at the corner of Yagami's mouth. "L."

Oh.

That name explained so much, yet not nearly enough to satisfy Mido. But he realized it was futile to ask much about L himself... "So that's how you're able to get by with quitting the police force. L is responsible for supporting your family."

Yagami raised his brows in surprise. "...Not much escapes you, does it?"

"I should hope not."

"All the better." Yagami got up to leave. "Thank you for your time, doctor."

Mido wasn't sure what made him say it, but it would have been rude not to express any sort of gratitude. Before the detective left Mido said, "Thank you very much, sir. Take care."

Yagami briefly turned back. "...I will."

* * *

**November 7, 2004  
1:34 AM**

Not much changed for Mido and the other doctors over the course of October. Not until the thirty-first, when the police made a move and supposed captured a Kira suspect, creating a frenzy in the department and among those lucky enough to have a connection to the NPA (which Mido did, of course). Nobody was quite sure what rumors about it were true, however, so much of the excitement was wasted.

_A shame_, Mido thought. _Something interesting happens and nobody knows what the hell is really going on._

Another five days passed without incident.

Then came the seventh of November.

Nothing signalled to Mido that it would be a life-changing day for him; not to him or anyone else under his direction, for that matter. He had been staying up very late multitasking by doing some paperwork and studying a criminal's body at the same time. He didn't even notice the clock beep to signal the passing of midnight. Involuntarily, he jumped when his secretary knocked on his door more than an hour later.

None of the other doctors (not even the one full-time worker) had a secretary, but this woman, an American student, had volunteered as an intern. She was surprisingly good, even Mido had to admit as much. But he was in no mood to deal with her at the moment. "Not now," he said after briefly glancing at her.

She ignored him. "Sir? There's someone here to see you."

Mido waved her off.. "Tell them to come back tomorrow."

"He said his name was... um... Yagim-- er, Yagama-- uh..."

Mido turned to her. "Yagami?"

"Yes, that was it! Yagami... What an unusual name, if I might say so..."

Mido sighed. He would have been able to ignore almost any other visitor, but the man who had gotten him this job...? "Tell him I'll be out in a moment."

Not even thirty seconds later, Mido stepped out and immediately got a good look at Yagami, who was sitting in a chair. The first word that popped into Mido's head at the detective's appearance was "terrible." It didn't take a doctor's eye to know that he had lost weight and needed sleep. There was stubble on his chin, his brow was etched in a frown, his eyes were red and seemed watery... the list could go on. "Good God, man, you look like you've been to hell and back!!"

Yagami barely looked up at Mido. "I have.."

Mido couldn't think of much to say. "...What sort of hell?"

Yagami sighed. "The sort of hell where everything unravels so quickly you don't see a God damn thing coming until it's all over." He rubbed an eye. "But then, the event isn't always the worst part. Afterwards... that's sometimes the real hell."

_What the devil has this man gone through...?! He's worked himself far too hard!! He needs to take a vacation, or maybe even retire completely before he collapses from exhaustion--_

As if defying the doctor's thoughts, Yagami stood up. "I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here."

Suddenly Mido began to feel rather angry. "Whatever you're here for can wait! You need to relax a bit from this damned Kira case or you're gonna have a heart attack!! You look like hell and you need to rest!"

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Mido wasn't sure how Yagami managed it, but with a completely straight face he questioned, "Doctor's orders?"

Almost involuntarilly, Mido laughed. At least it was a sour laugh, maybe even it a sarcastic one. He'd gotten good at this kind of obvious forced laughing; otherwise nobody would ever have taken him seriously as a doctor. "If that's the way you wish to look at it."

Yagami sighed and sat down again. "Doctor, what I'm here for absolutely cannot wait. Tomorrow I have to make preparations for a funeral, and frankly, I don't have time to waste."

"...Whose?"

Yagami frowned.

"Whose funeral?"

Mido immediately sensed Yagami grow suddenly... sadder? After a long pause, he said softly, "A good friend's."

There was nothing Mido could really say in response.

"He was an investigator for the Kira case," Yagami continued. "From the very beginning, he was clearly one of the brightest men assigned to the case, and he stuck to it until the very end."

"...How was... the end?" Mido asked slowly.

"Hell."

That reply explained everything.

"It was Kira, wasn't it?"

A nod.

"I'm sorry."

"We were all so sure we were going to die... He collapsed before the rest of us could comprehend what was happening, but then all at once, we realized, 'We're next'... Have you ever completely expected to die, doctor?"

"..."

It wasn't hard for the memories to resurface.

_Noooooo!! I can't die now!! Please don't let me die!! No no no no...!!  
_  
Mido forced himself to think of the present. "...Yes... Once... A very long time ago... I understand what you mean. It _is_ hell, to believe your life will end at any second... Is that what you want from me? Reassurance...?"

"No. I want you to have his body."

It was such an out-of-place remark. _Did he just say...?_ "...Excuse me?!"

"He would have wanted it, I'm sure."

_No, a normal person would want to be buried in a graveyard or cremated, not dissected in an attempt to stop a serial killer--_

"His body is the last you can expect to receive from me. When you're done, I should like to have it cremated, perhaps..."

"The last??"

Yagami nodded. "Please forget I ever told you this, but Kira's murders will never be stopped through science... I mean no offence to you when I say that, I only mean to tell you the truth. The truth is, Kira can kill anyone in the world as long as he has information about them... and no sort of medicine will ever be able to stop him."

"...You know that for a fact?"

A nod.

Mido thought through what Yagami had said very carefully. "...Would I be wrong to say.... that based on what you just said... that science will never stop them... you mean... that Kira can kill in ways other than heart attacks?"

Yagami stared. "...I have no idea how you came to that conclusion from what I just said... But I won't deny anything. You're exactly right."

Mido rubbed his chin in thought. The last body he would receive... "...Can I have it?"

"The body? Certainly. I will have it delivered to you in a few hours.." He stood up to leave. "Excuse me doctor, but I have to make funeral arrangements."

That was the last time Mido ever saw Soichiro Yagami.

* * *

**AN: ITS ABOUT TIME!! Jeez, it only took me about two months to write this part from the time Mido said he would explain it. Sadness!! :-(**

**...Still, I got there! FINALLY!!**

**(I wonder if anyone got the reference in the time I mentioned for November sixth...? *cough* 134 *cough*)**


	7. Subway Stairs

****

AN: ...Don't get me wrong guys: I love L, but this chapter was really fun to write. (You'll see what I mean... :-P)

Keep R-and-R-ing!! My overall mood depends on your reviews!! (Okay, maybe that doesn't always apply, but please humor me and review anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll update faster...? *Hint*Hint*)

* * *

**February 6, 2011  
12:26 PM**

L softly chewed on the edge of his thumb. "So that was how you got my body..." he murmured in thought.

The doctor beside him nodded. "It wasn't until a short time afterwards that I decided to try and 'revive' you. Once I did, I let go of all the part-time doctors involved. My secretary of sorts refused to leave, but other than her... And I talked it over with the one full-time man and even offered him a partnership, but--"

"But he decided to become your assistant instead," L finished.

Mido didn't ask how L had figured that out; he just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "...I must admit, Ryuzaki, never before have I met a mind quite as sharp as yours."

"Perhaps Mido-san doesn't give himself enough credit. I think you are probably twice as sharp as I am, doctor."

"Liar. You could've finished that Sudoku book in an hour--no, wait, you could probably tell me _exactly_ how long it would have taken you if you hadn't been trying to dupe me into thinking you were slow."

"Fifty-six minutes and two seconds."

The answer was instantaneous, and Mido began to laugh.

L didn't admit it or let it show on his face, but this annoyed him quite a bit. So he asked another question. "What happened to Yagami?"

Mido sobered up quickly at the mention of his name. "...I never saw him again," he said, "but I did talk to him over the phone once."

_Over the phone...?_ "About what...?"

"He had a building for me to work in."

"Ah. The one we are in now, I presume?"

"Yes. I didn't question where he'd gotten it from, but the facilities are entirely underground and at his request we use only the bare minimum of electronic equipment. I don't even have my laptop anymore."

L frowned. "Why would something like that make a difference?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did he tell you to get rid of all your electronics? Has technology changed all that much...?"

Mido also began frowning. "In some ways, yes, but I never really thought that was very relevant. To me, it always seemed like a rather bizarre request as well... I assumed it probably had something to do with keeping my operations secret, but I never really got a chance to ask."

Slowly L nodded. "Perhaps I will think about it later. But now I would like to rest."

"Well... Yes, you're right." The doctor looked like he was about to argue with L, but he must have dropped the idea and instead stood up to leave. "You need your rest." Without another word he left the room.

* * *

Immediately after he left Ryuzaki, Mido went into another room down the hallway.

_What on earth is he up to...?_

The doctor didn't believe for an instant that Ryuzaki was intent on resting. He didn't know what he was planning to do, but Mido would have bet that it sure as hell didn't involve _sleeping_.

Luckily, he had prepared for this. Before he had ever gotten close to bringing Ryuzaki back, Mido had installed tiny cameras in the room that were practically invisible to the eye. It had been an extra precaution, in case his personality had been threatening. Now, Ryuzaki didn't seem to be _dangerous_, by any means, but Mido's caution was about to pay off.

As Mido looked at the monitors, he saw Ryuzaki sitting in his bed, glancing around his room.

_What are you planning to do...?_

* * *

L had had suspicions, but what Mido had said practically clinched it for him. Now he just had to find some proof...

He was 89% sure that Mido had installed cameras in the room, but it was of no matter. He didn't care if he was seen. He needed to prove that they were, indeed, where he thought they were. But to do that, he needed to get out of the room.

Which meant he was going to attempt to walk.

Before his death, he had often sat down for hours at a time, and it had made very little difference to him. But lying down in a hospital bed for an entire week was just plain annoying. There wasn't much he could do lying in a bed, and he certainly couldn't prove his theory if all he did was stay there.

So. He had to at least _try_ walking.

He knew by now that he could move his legs, so that wasn't really the problem. He was more worried about being able to support himself after not standing up for six years. He expected that he would tip over several times, and that his balance would be terrible at first, but he was still going to try. He grabbed onto the bed's railing and held on tightly as he shifted his body. Very slowly, he moved to put his right leg on the ground, and--also very slowly--he moved most of his weight onto his right foot. And...

He didn't fall.

_Yes!!_

In his excitement, he let go of the death grip he had been keeping on the bed's railing.

And lost his balance.

_OOF!!_

He landed flat on his face.

Admittedly, it wasn't as painful or humiliating as the time Naomi Misora had kicked him down a set of subway stairs. But still, it hurt quite a bit.

That didn't mean he was giving up just yet.

_Maybe it would be better if I started with the knees..._

He managed to position himself so that he was straight from the knees up and holding onto the railing again. Very slowly, he loosened his grip. After several seconds, he let go.

Surprisingly, he stayed upright. It was quite a strange feeling, thinking that he was going to tip over at any second and never quite doing so. But after a few minutes, he was almost 100% certain that he wasn't going to fall.

_And now to try standing..._

He pulled himself on his feet, and it looked rather like the crouching position he normally sat in. Carefully, he straightened his legs; when he was finally in a rigidly straight position, he tried letting go of the rail.

Again, he didn't fall.

"Success!!" he said excitedly to himself.

He spoke too soon. A moment later, he lost his balance again and went tumbling to the ground. This time, however, he landed on his back and wasn't so quick to get up again.

L sat there rather dejectedly. After one minute and thirty-seven seconds of thought, he sighed.

"I think this might take a while..."

* * *

Mido's assistant happened to be walking down the hallway when a chuckle caught his attention. He paused for a moment, then stuck his head in to see what his boss was laughing at. He saw immediately that Mido was looking at a television that showed camera footage from Ryuzaki's room. "Sir...? What's so funny?"

Mido chuckled again. "Ryuzaki. He's attempting to walk."

The assistant's eyes grew wide. "What?! After only a week?!"

Mido grinned. "I certainly don't blame him. He was getting awfully bored as it was. And I must admit, he is doing better than most would be at this point..."

The assistant raised an eyebrow. "Really? How many steps has he taken?"

"None." At that moment Ryuzaki fell over on the monitor again, and Mido had to stifle another laugh.

"Sir! He could hurt himself!"

"Oh, calm down. The worst he can do is get a couple bruises. It's all in good fun. Besides, I have this odd feeling that be already knows I'm watching him."

The doctor's answer seemed rather out of character: normally, Mido would have gone running to assist someone. His response puzzled his assistant quite a bit. "Erm... Well then... Shouldn't you be helping him walk again instead of just watching?"

With a completely serious expression on his face, the doctor turned to him and said, "If he had wanted help, he wouldn't have told me he was planning on resting, now would he?" Mido went back to watching the screen.

His assistant sighed and walked out of the room.

* * *

Almost an hour later, L succeeded.

Patiently, after falling over at least a dozen more times, he had walked back and forth across the room--five times--without having to hold onto anything. He had even assumed his old bad posture in the process.

So, he could finally move on.

To see if he was right.

Quickly, for only a third of a second, he poked his head into the hallway for the first time. Yes, so far so good: the hallways seemed to be in a "T" shape, with his room somewhere on the "vertical" hall, so to speak. If he was correct in his calculations, he needed to go to the left end of the "horizontal" hall... He knew Mido's secretary was busy, and neither Mido nor his assistant was anywhere to be seen. He calculated about a 42% chance of being seen... low enough for him to try and go snooping for what he was looking for. Stealthily and swiftly, L stepped out and travelled the length of the hall. He rounded the left corner without being noticed, and saw he was at...

A dead end.

Well, technically it only _looked_ like a dead end. But L, being as smart as he was, knew that wasn't true. There was indeed a door there. It just wasn't an orthodox one.

After thinking the possibilities and probabilities over for a good 5.77 seconds, he decided that he could get through it at about a 68% chance. Cautiously, he pressed a section of the wall's tile, and a small virtual keypad appeared. With surprising ease, he typed in a few numbers, causing the keypad to disappear.

And after a few anxious seconds, the door slid open.

L stepped inside the newly discovered room, and he realized immediately that he had been correct.

* * *

**AN: So, does anyone want to take a stab at where he is? :-D The responses should be interesting...**


	8. Clipboards

**AN: YAY!! I'VE GOTTEN MORE THAN FIFTY REVIEWS!! Oh holy holy holy holy HOLY FREAKING WOW AM I HAPPY!! I'm also really happy to read your reviews!! SO MANY OF YOU GUESSED WHERE L IS IT MAKES ME TINGLE!! A lot of you knew EXACTLY where he was, a lot of you had no clue, a bunch of people made funny guesses for the heck of it, and one anonymous person thought he had opened the door to a kitchen and was looking for sugar cubes!! (I was taking a drink of water when I read that one... It went up my nose and I almost died laughing.)**

**Also, the chapter title for the last one had NOTHING to do with where L is. It was just something silly (and apparently misleading) that I had come up with about 2 seconds before posting it.**

**As promised: EARLY UPDATE!! (LOL, and maybe I'll hurry in my posting of the next chapter too. I AM THAT EXCITED!!)**

* * *

**February 6, 2011  
1:48 PM**

Stairs.

Stairs going up.

That was where L was: the stairwell for the building he had commissioned for the task force.

L wasn't sure how he was going to make it up to the ground level without passing out, but that was besides the point.

The point was, if he could make it up the stairs, he would find one very important piece of equipment that he was 99.999% sure hadn't been moved. Well, technically it _couldn't_ be moved: it was really more of a matter of whether the electricity was still on...

But he had to find it to find out.

Slowly and methodically, L pulled himself up step by step.

* * *

_Okay, I've let him wander around long enough._

After ten minutes of sitting and staring at a blank monitor of an empty hospital bed, Mido was--and he purposely borrowed Ryuzaki's habit--99% sure that his patient had seen everything that there was to be seen around the place. _Knowing him he's probably gone through all my secretary's files._

Mido stepped out of the room, and immediately saw...

_What the hell?!_

There was a hole in the wall!! _Where the hell did that come from?! _Mido, not even remembering Ryuzaki anymore, immediately ran over to investigate. Yes, there was definitely a hole in the wall, but how had it gotten there...?!

Pressing one of the tiles by accident, Mido revealed some kind of electronic screen that he had never seen before. On it was displayed a message.

_DOOR JAMMED  
PLEASE CLEAR OFF SENSORS_

_Clear off sensors...? _Mido didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound good. _What could be blocking a sensor...?_

The answer, it turned out, was right at his feet. A clipboard that belonged in his office was placed on the floor against a motion detector. Consequently, the door "knew", so to speak, that something was there, and by default it wouldn't shut.

Mido smiled to himself. _What a classic trick._

The doctor was about to pick the clipboard up when he had a startling and rather stupid thought.

_Clipboards don't open doors...!_

He mentally scolded himself for not thinking that before. Someone had opened it and blocked the sensor so that it wouldn't automatically shut after them.

_But no one who's ever been down here would be smart enough to figure out that this--_

Mido didn't even give himself the chance to finish that thought.

"God dammit!!" he said to himself.

_Ryuzaki!!_

The doctor dashed through the doorway and ran up the stairs in front of him without a moment's hesitation.

Up one set.

Two.

Three.

_Where the hell could he have gone?! And how the hell did he even get that door open in the first place?!_

It was on the fourth set of stairs going upward--which appeared to be ground level--that Mido found another opened door. Unlike the one in the basement, this one was ordinary. It wasn't even electronic.

But it had been propped open with another clipboard.

_Dammit, is Ryuzaki a kleptomaniac or something?! How many of these did he take?!_

He stepped through into the room. It looked like some sort of... control center, maybe. There were several computers and countless monitors to go along with them. They were all covered with dust, and obviously hadn't been touched for years.

"Ryuzaki!!" he called out. "Dammit, where are you?! And what are you doing up here?!"

"I thought Mido-san didn't like it when things were kept from him."

Mido whirled around. Ryuzaki was bending over, picking up the clipboard that propped the door open. "Good God!" Mido shouted at him. "You scared the hell out of me!!"

Ryuzaki just stood there, unperturbed. "Is that so?"

The doctor habitually noticed that his patient was using terrible posture. Assuming that Ryuzaki had any common sense, he would have realized that this pissed Mido off even more. "You're slouching just to aggravate me more, aren't you?!"

"No. I always stand like this."

"Liar."

"I beg to differ."

"Look, you've had your fun, Ryuzaki!! So would you mind explaining to me exactly how you got up here?!"

Ryuzaki actually looked amused by the doctor's hot temper. "I opened the door and walked up the stairs. What else is there for me to explain?"

Mido gave a sigh of exasperation. "But WHY?!"

This time, Ryuzaki seemed to hesitate in answering. "Because," he slowly said, "I was bored staying downstairs."

Mido had to force himself not to roll his eyes. "I already knew that! Are you sure that's the only reason??"

"No. As a matter of fact, I know it isn't the only reason."

Mido waited.

"...Well?" he prompted.

"'Well' what?"

"What other reason do you have for coming up here?!" _Why does he have to be so damn difficult NOW, of all times?!_

"Because I want ice cream."

_...Did I hear that right?!_

"You want ice cream," Mido numbly repeated.

"Yes. I want ice cream. And if I can assume that the freezer is still running--"

"Wait a minute!! How the hell do you even know there's a freezer around here?!"

"Maybe I could find some chocolate... Or sherbet would be nice..."

"RYUZAKI!!"

For a moment, they both simply stared at each other. Slowly, methodically, Ryuzaki sighed and turned around so he no longer faced the doctor. "I apologize, Mido-san. Today has held many unexpected instances of déjà vu for me. It wears one down quite a bit..."

This sudden change of subject confused Mido. "Déjà vu? Like what?"

"Mido, I know the location of the freezer, the building layout, and the security codes because... I lived here."

_...What?!_

"Excuse me?!" he managed. "You LIVED here?!"

"Correct."

_...Wow._

"L built this building for the remaining members of the investigation team," Ryuzaki continued. "It was where we all lived for a few months. Until, I would guess..."

_Until Ryuzaki died._

"It _was _only after you'd died," Mido slowly thought out loud. "Yagami gave me the building about two weeks after I got your body... But... why after....?"

There was a pause.

"Mido-san," Ryuzaki said while glancing at him, "if you were chasing a serial killer that brings death by cardiac arrest and one of your colleagues dies from a heart attack, one can reasonably assume there is a serious security leak."

When Ryuzaki phrased it that way, it made sense. "So you're saying that L got scared and moved the Kira investigators somewhere safer."

Ryuzaki frowned. "I wouldn't necessarily say that L was scared... but yes, it is obvious they moved their headquarters somewhere else."

Mido huffed. "Sounds like L was scared to me," he muttered.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"Erm... Never mind."

Neither of them spoke for a while. Suddenly, without any prior signs, Ryuzaki started heading out the door.

"Hey!! Ryuzaki, where are you going??"

"To the elevator."

"Huh? Why do you need to go to the elevator??"

Mido's patient whirled around to face him. "Because frankly," he said with a perfectly straight face, "I don't want to go up any more stairs today, and the freezer is still another three floors above us."

Oh.

Of course Ryuzaki could be counted on to find his precious ice cream.

* * *

Mido didn't even think about it until later, but at some point he realized that clipboards are not only incapable of opening electronic doors, but they are also not able to move themselves to block electronic sensors or be door stoppers.

Or rather, that Ryuzaki had moved the clipboards to _purposely_ keep the doors open.

But why? He obviously knew the access code and could have opened the electronic door again. It wasn't a complicated procedure; certainly it wasn't worth the trouble of jamming the thing. It had nothing to do with electrical problems, either. And the other door didn't even appear to have a lock on it.

So why had he done it...?

In the end, the doctor only came up with one good explanation.

Ryuzaki had left it open so Mido would be able to chase him.

* * *

**AN: Ha ha!! L you bizarre insomniac genius... Apparently Mido was pawned into following him! Which is actually in his benefit, for once. **

**I had an interesting conversation with my dad over the ice cream thing. I just randomly walked up to him and was like, "Dad, if you have ice cream in a freezer for about five years, would it still be good?" He thought I was mental. ;-P  
(In the end we decided that if it was frozen at 31 degrees Fahrenheit and hadn't been opened then it might have a chance.)**

**BTW, I might update fast for the heck of it, because I already have the next chapter written!! O.O But I might be cruel and wait a bit to plot out the story a little more, because frankly this is nothing like I had first thought it would end up being. That plan consisted of maybe 10 chapters, which is NOT happening here...**

**I'll stop rambling. REVIEW PLEASE!!**


	9. The Art of Self Defense

**AN: HOLY CRAP!! I checked out my traffic page the other day and I was freaking amazed!! For the month of August 2009 I got a total of 929 FREAKING HITS AND 402 FREAKING VISITORS!! (Sorry, none of you are "freaking" or whatever. I just use that word a lot is all.)  
But SERIOUSLY!! For me that is a HUGE deal!! Thanks a bajillion to everyone reading this!!**

**And now, without further ado...!! **

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
6:27 AM**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING TODAY?!" Mido practically shouted. No, wait, not _practically_. He nearly blew L's eardrums out.

The said detective responded by shifting his weight and looking indifferent. "I simply have no more reason to stay here, Mido-san. Surely you didn't expect me to stay here forever?"

The doctor seemed taken aback. "Well, no... but today?! You've only been alive for two weeks!!"

L cocked his head. "...And by that you are implying...?"

"Ryuzaki!! In theory, you shouldn't even be walking yet!!"

"Mido-san, remember I did that last week. Besides, you've given me every single test on the planet to determine physical and mental strengths, and they all turned out normally--"

"Except the IQ test."

"...Well, yes, but isn't it acceptable to have an above-average level of intelligence?"

"_Above-average_?! Good God, I think you broke a world record!!"

"Which," L pointed out, "is _not_ an acceptable reason to force me to stay here."

Mido sighed. "Is it considered irrational to worry that you'll be killed again?"

L pretended to think a moment. "No."

"So my reasoning is justified!!"

Mido seemed truly concerned, but L wasn't giving in to such a stupid excuse. "No, Mido-san, because I am quite certain that by 'being killed' you are referring to Kira--"

"What percent would that be--?"

"Ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain."

It was an instantaneous answer.

"It is not irrational," L continued, "to worry about my general health and safety; it is, however, irrational to worry about a serial killer that has been missing for more than a year."

The doctor sighed. "Fine."

"...So, I may go?"

Mido's nose twitched. "Oh, I almost forgot."

"...Forgot what?"

"There is one area that I neglected to test you in. A vitally important one."

It sounded like Mido was playing his trump card. "And that would be...?"

"The art of defending oneself from physical attacks."

_Is he kidding...?!_

L stared. "You are worried about my self-defense skills," he said flatly.

"Frankly, yes. After being dead for several years, I wouldn't think that my reflexes would be at their best."

Hmm. When Mido phrased it that way, it was a plausible excuse. He almost had L for that one: hook, line, and sinker.

But, to his benefit, L was 100% certain Mido wasn't expecting him to take the bait.

"Alright," L said with a smirk. "Try punching me."

The doctor did a double take. "WHAT?!"

"You heard that correctly. Try punching me."

Mido stared. "For God's sake Ryuzaki!! I'm a _doctor_!! Assaulting people is the _exact opposite_ of what I do for a living!!"

"Well then," L said with a small grin, "you'll just have to believe me when I say that I can defend myself."

A sigh came from Mido. As much as he was trying to hide it, L could tell that he was sorely tempted by the offer. And really, L didn't blame him much: they hadn't been the best of friends for the past week because L refused to tell Mido more about the building and Kira Investigation Team.

But then, after a minute, the doctor seemed to give it up. "Ryuzaki, it's not that I don't believe you. It's just that... that--"

Temptation won out, and just as L had begun to let his guard down Mido attempted to sock him in the jaw.

_Ahh!! He's fast!!_ Barely in time, L ducked and missed the punch by a hair's width. Swiftly, he turned the tables and, with a move that barely existed he bent to the floor and delivered a kick to the doctor's chest...

And missed.

But it was probably just as well: he had only missed because Mido had leaned backward to avoid it, and in the process lost his balance. He fell to the floor with an audible thud.

L stood over him. "You know karate."

It was probably the most obvious sentence that had ever come out of his mouth. Mido picked himself up. "You know capoeira," he retorted.

L was impressed. Not many people had heard of that particular fighting style. "Indeed."

"You could have gone a bit easy on me you know!!"

L briefly considered admitting that he _had_ gone easy on the doctor, but that wasn't his style. "Mido-san, I think I might point out that I'm not a doctor who goes around punching his patients."

Mido glared at him. "Then let me point out that I haven't DIED before."

L blinked.

There was no good reply to that.

"...Touché."

* * *

**8:16 AM**

Unfortunetly for Mido, he really couldn't find a good reason for L to stay around anymore. After a long argument, he finally let it go after giving L 5,000 yen and making him promise to come back the next week. (L didn't know if he would end up keeping that promise; if he hadn't known better, he would have guessed even Mido knew that he might have been lying.)

L stepped outside for the first time in more than six years and took in the city around him. It was so different, yet so much the same... his photographic memory was able to look around and analyze many so different details at the same time it almost put his brain on overload.

Under normal circumstances, before he had died, he would have called Watari to pick him up. But Watari was dead, so that wasn't an option. He could have called a taxi, ridden a bus, or taken the subway. He briefly considered all of these options, and his final decision actually surprised him quite a bit.

He was simply going to walk.

He knew exactly where he had to go, and it wasn't too far away from the old investigation headquarters. As a bonus, there were no cameras to photograph his face outside. Even more of a bonus: he hadn't walked anywhere since he'd died, and now was the perfect opprotunity to actually get some exercise.

He started heading down the street. At this point, he was wearing his normal outfit of a white shirt and baggy blue-jeans. Mido had gotten him a pair of tennis shoes that, of course, felt very uncomfortable. The doctor had also given him a jacket, because the delivery man had said that it had been snowing recently. Most of this snow had melted, leaving piles of slush on the sidewalk and streetcorners.

As L trudged on, his thoughts went back to Watari. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about the old man's death... True, Quillish Wammy had been the closest thing to a father L ever really had, but at the same time he knew that fathers were not supposed to turn their sons into great detectives for fun. But as a person, someone to talk to, L certainly would miss his company.

But L had made other connections. Aiber. Wedy. And the Kira Task Force.

_How many of them are still alive?_

_How many died because of Light?_

Then he had a strange thought. _What if I could contact one if the old investigation team members? That is, assuming they're still alive, of course. I would scare them half to death... ha ha, I would give Matsuda a heart attack! But who else could I reveal myself to...? Rodger? Maybe..._

_Or one of my successors._

L stopped in the center of the sidewalk. The task force had probably kept his death a secret (at a 98% chance), meaning that one of them would have had to have played the part of L. And it was most definetly... Light. He was the only logical choice for a successor out of the six of them. L shuddered at that thought. How he wished he hadn't made that comment about Light taking over after his death...

But perhaps that hadn't happened. One of the children at Wammy's could have taken over, or at a 96% chance Rodger had at least told the others of his death. If not, someone there _must_ have known that the new L was an imposter. And if they dug deep enough into the Japanese police records, they probably would have learned of the Death Note...

But who?

_Nate?_

_Miheal?_

_Or perhaps even Mail...?_

But it was pointless to think of these kinds of things. L was, in a sense, walking to find these things out right at that very moment..

* * *

While L had been chained to Light, he had been unable to use his computer. From the way it was programmed, if he didn't use his computer for a period longer than twenty-four hours, then a countdown was supposed to start. At the end of the countdown, Rodger was to receive a text message with a simple, straightforward meaning.

_L is dead._

Because L wasn't able to use his computer while around the investigation team--and being chained to Light had added a whole new level of difficulty to that as well--he instructed Watari to use it at regular four-hour intervals whenever possible.

Meaning that the computer had to go wherever Watari went.

Fortunetly for L, Watari had taken the time to rent out a room under one of L's aliases from a... less than honest man. He was suspected on a number of drug charges, and he had seemed willing to lend out his building as a place to do deals or hide things. An exceptional amount of money on L's part was able to both completely buy the floor and the man's silence. Every day, Watari had gone and used the computer like L had instructed.

Until the day he had died.

L was nearly there half an hour after he had begun his walk through the downtown. Almost everything he could have bothered to think about had been examined, and he had maybe ten minutes left until he got to--

Abruptly, the peace of the morning was shattered by a scream.

* * *

**AN: Hahahahaaa! Cliffhanger!! I know how much you guys hate these, so I'll try to keep the updating regular and not prolong it any more than need be. :-P**

**Happy Labor Day to all the Americans out there!!**

**(Oh, and BTW, the title of this chapter is a shout-out to... someone... ha ha ha...)**


	10. Heights

**AN: I don't have a friggin' clue how the Japanese police work, just so y'all know. I wrote the police info so it made sense and suited my purposes.  
**

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
8:48 PM**

A beautiful corpse.

If L had felt any need to romanticize a phrase meaning "dead body," that might have been his choice of words. But as it was, it was just a body.

A body that certainly would have been beautiful, had it not been severely mangled and spattered with blood.

_This seems vaguely familiar..._

The body belonged to a young girl, who looked like she might have been a teenager. She was lying on the sidewalk, where she had fallen from the top of a very high building. L looked at the height of the skyscraper next to him and estimated it to be a good 15 stories tall and at least 150 feet high. Even though he couldn't be certain, he figured it was safe to assume her death was intentional. The cause of her demise seemed rather mysterious. Had it been murder? Suicide? Or--L couldn't ignore the possibility at a 0.02% chance--had she been written down to die in a Death Note?

With a small jolt of surprise, L realized that this was the first body he'd seen in years, and one of the few bodies he'd seen period. Throughout virtually all of his life, he saw the dead in photographs and video recordings.

And this was the first time that L had ever seen someone die right in front of him.

Next to him, a woman was blubbering. It had actually been her--not the dead girl--who had screamed. L paid very little attention to her: most of her rant was nonsense, as far as he could tell. Something about how tragic it was that someone had to die so young, and why did she have to be the one to find the body?! L was greatly annoyed, and he tuned her out.

He kept on getting a sense that there was something significant about this situation, but to his dismay, he just couldn't figure out what it was. _Does this remind me of something that happened before...? No, I rarely solved these kinds of crimes. Is it the location...? No, that can't be it. How often have I wandered around downtown Tokyo? So then it must be... the body...?_

A crowd was beginning to form, and after a short time two police cars pulled up. Quickly and efficiently the people were pushed away from the scene, and the area was roped off. Most of the crowd disaparated, but for the pesky few who stated around--L included--one officer was trying to shoo them all off.

"Go on, people, nothing to see here," he said while gesturing for them to leave.

Nobody, or at least very few, moved to go.

"Please, leave so the police can do their work!"

Still, nobody seemed to be ready to leave.

"Do I need to bring out the handcuffs?!" the officer said, exasperated.

"Yamamoto, who put you on crowd control?!"

The voice came from somewhere across the police line.

L didn't need to see the second man to realize who it was.

_Matsuda-san?!_

_Why is he here...?!_

"Ha ha, funny. But Matsuda, these people won't leave!!"

"So ignore them! They aren't doing anything to corrupt the scene. Nobody else even cares."

_Since when has Matsuda-san become _bossy_?_ L wondered.

The first man--Yamamoto--sighed. "I guess..."

No less than 2.77 seconds later, L had a plan.

"Does anyone here want to volunteer as a witness?" Yamamoto said to the people still there. "I need at least three for an official record."

The blubbering woman stepped forward. Another man volunteered along with her.

And there was L.

"Would any of you mind coming into the police station for questioning?"

Nobody seemed to object.

"Good. Any questions?"

"Who was she?" L asked abruptly.

"Who was--?"

"She must have been significant in some way," L continued, "because why would there be NPA detectives here instead of regular officers?"

L was unsure if the detective was nervous about being questioned or just plain stupid, but he didn't deny anything. "She, ah," Yamamoto stuttered, "she is... was... um--"

"Good God, Yamamoto!" one of the other officers shouted. "You aren't allowed to release that kind of information!"

"Huh? Oh. OH, right!!"

But it was too late.

Had they left the scene sooner, L wouldn't have seen the body being carried away on a stretcher, and it would have taken him longer to realize who the corpse was. It had taken a rather long time as it was (for him, at least), and he felt incredibly stupid for not noticing it before.

The body was blonde, petite, and--even L had thought of the adjective--beautiful.

Beautiful like a supermodel.

_How did in the world did I miss that...?!_

With a small shock as he calculated the odds, he realized there was a 88.2% chance that the body was Misa Amane.

* * *

**AN: Sorry guys, it wasn't Matsuda that screamed. Ha ha, though, that was a pretty good idea! It would have been really fun to write, but I don't think it would have done much for the plot in the long run...**

**And check out the Death Note Wiki site! Misa actually _does_ die on February 14, 2011, fo realz!! I noticed that and I was like "Omigosh NO WAY!! I CAN TIE THAT INTO MY STORY!!" (And no offense to Misa fans, but I think she's really a really annoying H-O-R-E.)  
****(And yes, I know there's supposed to be a W there!!)**

**I would have posted this chapter sooner but I was waiting to get 70 reviews (because I'm a little OCD like that... gotta have even numbers!), but in my opinion that took WAY TOO LONG!! To put it simply, like I have stated many times before, more reviews = faster updates. Sorry, I need motivation. :-(**

**But enough rambling. If you want the next chapter, you know what to do...!**


	11. Hobo

**AN: ****A humorous story: the other day I walked up to my friend Nikki and asked her, "If you randomly saw L on the street, would you think he was a hobo?" At first she looked at me like I was a nutcase (nothing new there), but then slowly she was like, "Oh my God, YES! He kinda _does_ look like a hobo!!"  
(For those of you who actually read that, it becomes a bazillion times more significant if you pair it up with this chapter and it's title.)**

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
9:36 AM**

Yamamoto wasn't a particularly diligent officer, but he did his job, and he did it thoroughly. If you were working at the NPA, after all, it meant you were good at some aspect of investigative work.

And his particular strength was at interviewing witnesses and suspects.

It wasn't so much that he was good at grilling out information: he just happened to be so carefree and relaxed that people forgot he was an officer. Consequently, they usually let their guard down and slipped something useful that would never have been dropped.

Today, Yamamoto wasn't trying too hard. It was obvious right away that none of the witnesses were currently connected to the corpse, who had been identified on scene as Misa Amane (interestingly enough, it had been Matsuda who had recognized her).

He interviewed the woman first, who was essentially a wreck over what she saw. Nothing that came out of her mouth was at all helpful.

Then came a man. There wasn't anything special about him: he seemed more concerned about being late to work than seeing a dead body. He was useless too.

The third and final witness looked like a hobo.

That was the first word that popped into Yamamoto's head when he saw him. Wearing a beat-up jacket and nondescript clothes, he looked like he had never brushed his hair in his life, like he had never slept in his life, like he had never gone outside in his life, and--judging by the way he was uncomfortably shuffling his feet around--like he had never worn shoes before.

"Um, please sit," he said when the hobo came in.

Well, he got in the chair, Yamamoto would give him that much credit. But he didn't really sit-- it was more like a crouch on both legs with his feet pressed to the very back of the chair.

Yamamoto had go idea how to react. _Is that how hobos sit...?_ He didn't know. _Maybe I should have paid more attention to the homeless people in the subway station..._

"Erm..."

Before he could say anything else, the man began eyeing a bowl of candy on the desktop. "May I?" he asked politely.

"Well, um... Sure, I guess."

Before he had even finished that thought, the entire bowl had been all but devoured.

Well.

_If he's a hobo he probably eats all the free food he can get..._

But that was unimportant at the moment: he had to ask this guy--hobo?--questions about what he'd seen this morning.

"So, um..." Yamamoto took a deep breath. "...Okay, first: what's your name?"

"Ryuzaki."

Yamamoto wrote that much down and waited for more. "Ryuzaki...?"

"Hmm?"

"Isn't there anything else?"

"No. It's just Ryuzaki."

...

_No last name...?_

His hobo idea didn't seem so far-fetched anymore.

"O... 'kay... And where do you live?"

Yamamoto was surprised when Ryuzaki rambled off an address. _He probably doesn't even live there_, the officer thought absently as he scribbled the street name and number down.

"Phone number?"

"I don't have access to a phone at this time."

Yeah, this guy was probably a hobo.

"Alright, then. Um, what's your occupation?"

"I don't have one at the moment."

Figures.

"And could you tell me what you saw and heard this morning of February fourte--"

"I heard a scream," Ryuzaki interrupted, "and I saw Amane fall. What more is there to add?"

Yamamoto rolled his eyes but wrote it down just the same. _Saw... Amane... fall--_

"Wait a minute!" he practically shouted. "How'd you get her name?!"

_Oh crap, did I let something slip?!_

Ryuzaki stared at him in a rather creepy way, and slowly he answered, "She used to live in the same apartment building as I did."

Oh.

That was a weird idea: since when would a million dollar model/actress/singer live in the same building as a bum like him?

Even weirder: Yamamoto got the feeling that there was more to it that Ryuzaki wasn't telling him.

"And, um, where is this apartment building?"

He rambled off another address.

"Sooo... How long ago did she... erm, you... uh--?"

"Six years."

The answer was so quick that Yamamoto considered briefly that he might not have been a hobo, but was instead one of those celebrity stalkers. He quickly decided the notion was stupid.

"And on what floor?"

With an over-exaggerated expression, Ryuzaki looked at him like he was insane. "Do you really expect me to remember such a minuscule detail?"

"Erm... I meant you, not Amane."

Then his face became completely unreadable. "I changed floors frequently. But about 37% of my time was spent on the first floor."

_He figured out a _percentage _for that?!_

Or maybe it was a lie and he hadn't lived in the building at all.

"And, um, you haven't seen her since then."

"Correct."

"That means that this morning was, um, the first time you've seen her in six years... right?"

Ryuzaki nodded.

Okay... Granted, he'd gotten more information from this guy than the other two, but if it was six years old...

"Well," Yamamoto slowly said, "I suppose you can go now. We'll come talk to you if we need anything else."

"Thank you." Ryuzaki got out of the chair. He began to head for the door, but then he turned around. "Could I ask you something?"

...? "Uh, shoot."

"How well do you know Matsuda-san?"

Yamamoto froze up. _How the hell does he know who Matsuda?! I don't think Matsuda knows a lot of hobos...!_

"Goodbye, Ryuzaki," he said curtly in an attempt to hide how freaked he was.

Ryuzaki cocked his head. "That's what I thought."

Somehow, Yamamoto knew exactly what he meant by that.

* * *

**AN: ****Here's an extra fact for y'all (even though nobody has asked me about it)... Yamamoto isn't actually an OC!! Well, he practically is, because you meet him in the series literally on about the third page from the end of chapter 108. S****eriously. He seems like a nice guy, though, but he's maybe a little confused and probably quite stupid. And then I read somewhere that the only purpose of introducing him at the end was so that we got to see Matsuda bossing someone around... Which explains why the little bit that we saw (erm, heard) of him was different. **

**Sorry to dissapoint, but I think that Yamamoto is gonna be the new stupid person in the series. THINK, no guarentees. :( But don't fret! I'll throw in a couple Matsuda antics somewhere that are DONE BY MATSUDA!! YAY!!**

**(But I am getting exceedingly tired of typing Yamamoto's name over and over and over and freaking over...)**


	12. Valentine's Day

**February 14, 2011  
10:12 AM**

"Ide, if you work on Valentine's Day, how're you gonna get a love life?"

"Ha ha, funny."

Matsuda and Ide were sitting in the NPA building's lounge while eating donuts and discussing their love lives. Normally they would have been working at that time, but, concerning their current case, there wasn't anything to really work on or investigate: it had been determined on the scene that Misa Amane had committed suicide.

_She really hadn't been able to live without Light_, thought Matsuda to himself. _Well, at least Ide doesn't have that problem._

"No, I'm serious!" he said out loud. "You should be at a bar or something looking for someone to become your girlfriend... or something."

Ide snorted. "That sentence sounded twisted coming out if your mouth. Besides, don't you have the same problem? I've never seen you with a woman before..."

Matsuda scowled. "Oh, shut up."

"Can't get over Yagami's daughter, eh?"

"Ide, I said SHUT UP."

"Well, at least she isn't dead..."

"I--" Matsuda was about to shout a retort, but then it registered what Ide meant by that. Amane was dead; Sayu wasn't. But at this point he didn't think she would end up killing herself over her brother. "...Isn't it funny that Kira's victim list is still growing?" he said softly, changing the subject.

"Um, actually, I don't think that's funny at all..."

"...Okay, so maybe 'funny' was a poor choice of an adjective. But come on, you know what I mean!"

"Hey, Matsuda?"

The two detectives were interrupted by Yamamoto.

"What is it?" Matsuda asked. "You haven't reconsidered my offer to go drinking again, have you??" he teased.

"No, this is serious," Yamamoto said without smiling.

Matsuda stopped wisecracking immediately. "Well then?"

"Do you... um..."

"Come on, spit it out!" Matsuda snapped.

"Well... do you know any hobos?"

Ide and Matsuda turned and looked at each other at the same time. They both burst out laughing. "You're--you're--you're kidding!" managed Ide.

"Guys!! I'm serious!!"

"I--don't--know--any--hobos!!" Matsuda gasped.

"Why the hell would Matsuda know any hobos?!" Ide said, grinning. "And for that matter, why the hell are you asking?!"

"Well, um, one of the guys that I interviewed for a witness' statement said he knew Matsuda, and he looked kinda like a hobo..."

Matsuda finally managed to stop laughing. "So, what'd he look like? Was he really dirty or something?"

Yamamoto had to think about that for a moment. "Well, he... I guess... no."

"No... what?"

"He wasn't dirty, but he reminded me of a hobo."

"How so?" Ide asked curiously. "What, this guy was a clean hobo or something...?"

Both he and Matsuda cracked up again.

"GUYS!! He had really messed-up black hair, ginormous lines under his eyes, and looked really pale, like he, um, I dunno, lives in a subway tunnel where there's no light."

Both Ide and Matsuda were confused. The description sounded vaguely familiar to both of them, but they couldn't quite place it. "Was he really that pale?" asked Matsuda.

"Like you wouldn't believe! My next best theory to him being a hobo is him being a zombie, but of course that's ridiculous.. Or maybe not a zombie... maybe he's just some kind of extreme insomniac..."

Ide remained confused, but that triggered something in Matsuda's head._ I know it's impossible... But it's such a weird coincidence..._ "What did he say his name was?"

"Ryuzaki."

Oh snap.

"No last name?!" Matsuda squeaked.

"Nope. I even double checked with him, he definitely... Matsuda, are you okay??"

"I could swear that all the blood in your head just visibly drained from your face!" Ide said, worried.

"I'm... I'm fine," Matsuda lied. _Ide hasn't made the connection yet... Then again, he didn't know L nearly as long as I did. But I... It's impossible! This could all be a giant coincidence... No, not could! It has to be!!_

_Because L... L is...!!_

"Was there anything else about him that was... weird??" he questioned.

"Like, um, what?"

"Eating habits," Matsuda said bluntly. "Sitting position. Using percentages. I don't know, anything!!"

Yamamoto looked at him like he was either in awe or thought Matsuda had gone completely insane. Probably the latter. "Oh my God... You DO know him, don't you?!"

It was awe.

"Just answer the damn question!" Ide snapped.

The awe disappeared. "Well, he devoured the entire bowl of candy on the desk, he used percentages at least once, and he sat something like... uh, this?" Yamamoto crouched in a chair to demonstrate. "Does that answer your...?"

Matsuda didn't even hear the rest of the question. The next thing he knew he was lying on the floor, Ide was yelling at him, and everyone in the room was looking down at him.

"WHAT THE HELL--Oh, thank God, you came to!! Let him breath, people!!"

"What-what ha-happened...??" Matsuda gasped.

Aizawa was standing behind Ide. "Matsuda, you idiot!! You passed out and scared the hell out of everyone!!"

Oh, so that's why he was on the floor. "And they called you in...?"

"Who, the Chief?" Yamamoto asked, referring to Aizawa. "No, he just, um, happened to be walking by..."

"What the hell happened??" Aizawa continued. "Is somebody dead??"

Funny he should ask that.

"N-n-no..."

Slowly Matsuda stood up.

"It's more like somebody's been brought back to life."

* * *

**AN: Hah! Matsuda fainted!! O.O There, that oughtta satisfy some of you for a while. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I am super close to getting 100!!!!!! YAY!! (It's not as many as "Art of Drowning", but hey, I'm not complaining!!)**


	13. Impostor

**AN: This chapter is dedicated to Nikki, the support behind the scenes. Best friend, L fangirl, and beta reader all rolled up in one. Plus without her, it's possible that I never would have discovered fanfiction or even manga/anime in the first place, to which she deserves a ginormous THANK YOU!!**

**...Why am I mentioning her now? Because 13 is her favorite number. (*wink*wink*)  
(And BTW, her nickname is B. And yes, she has earned that title, thank ya very much!! Moral of the story: do NOT piss her off.)**

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
10:34 AM**

"You're kidding!! What the hell kind of prank is this?!"

The Kira investigation team (plus Yamamoto) was gathered together in Aizawa's office trying to make sense of what they had just been told.

Yamamoto was sweating profusely because of Aizawa's accusation.

Matsuda was freaking out because nobody seemed to believe them.

Ide couldn't believe what Matsuda was saying.

Mogi was silent and showed no emotion on his face, like he always did.

And Aizawa...

None of them had ever seen him so pissed off.

"Matsuda is making you do this, isn't he?!" he said, not believing for an instant anything about this was true.

"N-n-no!!" Yamamoto stammered. "I swear, I haven't lied about anything here!! And Matsuda hasn't done anything either!!"

"But that isn't possible!!" Aizawa shouted. "The man you described is dead!! All of us here saw him die right before our eyes!!"

"C-chief," Matsuda began, "we aren't making this up!! Yamamoto claims to have seen him and I believe him!!"

"Nobody else does!!" Aizawa said angrily.

Yamamoto turned even more pale than already was.

"WHY WON'T ANYONE BELIEVE US??" Matsuda shouted. "I haven't had Yamamoto do anything, and he knows exactly what Ryuzaki looks like and acts like!!"

"But it IS. NOT. POSSIBLE." Aizawa rubbed his forehead and sighed. "How did I end up being the boss of such an idiot?" he muttered to himself.

Ide had been quiet up until then, but he wanted to help his friend. "Matsuda," he interrupted, "Would you swear this isn't a prank?!"

Matsuda turned to him. "Huh?"

"Would you place your life on the bet that this isn't a joke??"

"Absolutely!!" he answered without hesitation. "I'd never try and pull something like this on any of you guys!! Besides, I _fainted _when he told me about Ryuzaki!! How the heck do you fake passing out?!"

"Drugs," Mogi offered.

Matsuda rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, funny. I'm not on drugs, and neither is Yamamoto! Test us!! _We're not making this up!!_"

Matsuda might have been stupid, but to say he was willing to risk his life on it...? Even Aizawa saw that much was genuine.

"Well then, if you didn't make this up, then who the hell was that guy?!" Aizawa stood up and began pacing around the room. "It can't be  
the real Ryuzaki: that much is impossible."

"Maybe it's one of his successors," suggested Ide. "Someone from that orphanage who admires him so much to have dressed like him and picked  
up his habits."

"Isn't that going a bit far? Really, how would dressing up like Ryuzaki make any difference?"

"Okay, wait a minute!" Yamamoto interjected. "Are we still talking about Ryuzaki, or are we talking about some kind of monarchy here??"

Ide frowned. "...Monarchy?? What the hell do you mean by monarchy?!"

"Because, um, you said 'successor'. The first thing I think of when anybody mentions a successor is a crown or something."

It was then that they realized that Yamamoto didn't know Ryuzaki had been L.

"Erm," Matsuda said, "let's say that he holds an important job title."

"_Did_, you mean," corrected Aizawa.

"So... Is Ryuzaki really his name?"

"Well, no."

"But, then, what is?!"

Everyone else looked around uncomfortably. None of them--not even Matsuda--was stupid enough to tell him that Ryuzaki had been the greatest detective in the world. Luckily, Aizawa answered quickly, "Well, none if us ever knew his real name: he always insisted on using the name Ryuzaki around us to protect himself."

"Oh." Yamamoto considered this. "So... who was he?"

"An investigator who came in to assist us on the Kira case," Mogi said gruffly. Well, it was close enough to the truth.

"But back to the subject," Ide said. "What if he isn't a successor, but is really... I don't know, an impostor of some sort?"

"An impostor?" Aizawa thought it over. "Well, it's possible, I suppose. But how many people have information on Ryuzaki?"

He had a point. "Dammit, this might be kinda tricky," mumbled Yamamoto.

Aizawa stopped pacing. "I don't know what the rest of you think, but the only person I can think of who could help us figure this out is L."

For a split-second, nobody moved. They had just been through a giant argument over L being dead, and now Aizawa suggested talking to him??

But they all remembered quickly that by "L", he didn't mean Ryuzaki.

He was referring to Near.

"That's the best idea I've heard all morning!" said Matsuda.

Aizawa dialed a phone number. The room was silent as he stood there waiting for Watari (Rodger) to pick up. After a minute, he spoke. "I'd like to speak to L... My access code? I don't have one... Huh? Dammit, just tell him it's Aizawa from the Japanese NPA!.... Thank you..."

Everyone looked around at each other anxiously.

After all, if "L" couldn't help them, who could?

* * *

**AN: Guess who appears in the next chappie!!... As if it isn't extremely obvious. ;-P **

**(I bet Nikki is super-special-awesomely happy I pushed that little event out of this update. She, um, doesn't like Near much.)**

**I thought at first that maybe I would have them all figure out where L was and go to see him, then majorly freak out when they realize it really is him while he just stands there looking indifferent. :D But then I realized that just plain old wasn't very realistic. After all, no one would believe that somebody who is DEAD is walking around Tokyo! (Okay, so he's not dead anymore... but they aren't exactly aware of that, now are they?)**


	14. Successor

**AN: Alright guys, I'm sorry, but this might be the last update you get out of me for a little while. MAYBE. I'm not sure... I have a ton of stuff to do, and I'm really starting to feel the pressure of school kicking in... we'll see how long it gets dragged out.**

**Until then, here's Near's debut!**

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
11:06 AM in Tokyo, Japan**

**February 13, 2011  
9:06 PM at Near's Headquarters, USA**

"L here," Near said while playing with a set of tarot cards. He was busy building a tower with them in a very significant shape (although it was actually rather small compared to the scale he usually built things on). "What's the problem?"

"L, I'm sorry to bother you, but one of my colleagues claims to have seen someone... well, _impersonating_ Ryuzaki."

Near frowned. He was unfamiliar with the name. "Ryuzaki...?" He absentmindedly flipped a card over. The _Chariot_.

"He was registered at To-Oh University under the name Hydeki Ryuga in the year 2004. He was friends with a certain Light Yagami, and he never left his photograph anywhere that we are aware of."

_The first L?_ Near flipped over and stacked another card: this time it was the _Magician_. "I take it you are unable to use my superior's most commonly heard of title at the time?"

"Right."

The _Fool_ appeared next. "Matsuda isn't trying to pull your leg, is he?"

"Good Lord, not from you too!! The entire investigation team is in my office, and believe me, we already went over that particular idea."

Hmm. This was a rather peculiar situation. "And you are certain this is an impersonation and not just a huge coincidence?"

"Positive. He not only dressed the part: he completely used the same habits and eccentricities. None of us are sure how we should handle this, because what this man has done is technically a crime of international proportions."

It was true enough: claiming to be L was like painting a giant target on your back to the authorities of every country. Near flipped over and placed the _Hanged Man_ on his model. The irony of the card wasn't lost on him. "How curious..."

"This goes beyond the adjective 'curious', L!!"

Near paused and looked up from his tarot deck to stare into space. "Yes, I suppose it does." Already a plan was forming in his head. Another card turned: the _High Priestess_. "I have an idea."

"Really? Already?"

"Yes... There's one thing I need you to do, though."

"Such as?"

"It would help me out greatly if you would take the time to broadcast this to the media."

"...Huh??"

"Give a message to the local news broadcasters saying something along the lines of 'This man is believed to be a criminal,' along with a sketch... But no photographs, both for lack thereof and for reasons I'm certain you understand."

"Oh... 'kay... What will that help us do?"

_Justice_. "Corner him."

He sensed Aizawa's confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what I said it did."

There was a long silence. "...I give up. I don't have a clue how that's relevant, but I'll do it."

Near smirked. "Alright Aizawa. I'll catch your little impersonator."

There was a chuckle on the other end. "Correction: I'm not the one being impersonated."

"Touché." He hung up. "Commander Rester?" he called over his shoulder.

"Yes, Near?" he replied from a desk on the other side of the room.

"If you were going to catch an extremely good impersonator, how would you do it?"

The commander thought a moment before answering. "I would catch him making a mistake."

"...Interesting." The _Empress_. "But being more specific, how would you catch someone impersonating L?"

The commander didn't answer for a long time. "I suppose," he said slowly, "the best way to find an impersonator is to ask him something that only the original would know."

"Yes, that was my thinking as well."

Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Abruptly Rester turned around in his chair and stared at the detective on the floor. "Wait a moment, Near. I hate to point this out, but the real L is dead. This person is an imposter: you don't have to catch him doing anything wrong, you'd just have to figure out his identity. Why couldn't you just arrest him on the spot? Is it for the same reason you refused to kill Light Yagami?"

"Very good, Commander. You did notice." Near flipped over another card and gave a sour smile at the irony. "Two reasons. One, you are exactly right. I can't simply capture him for the same reason I didn't touch Light Yagami the instant I knew he was Kira: I have to find the proof and make this imposter taste defeat. And second..." Near paused as he lay the card down so Rester could see.

_Death_.

The thirteenth card of a tarot deck.

"There is a 0.4% chance that something far more sinister is happening," he soberly admitted.

The commanders eyes widened a minescule bit. "Sinister...?" Rester questioned. "Like what?"

"Not even two years ago," Near said, "I learned of a killer notebook. I talked to a Shinigami. And I saw a man confuse himself with God and very nearly damn the world along with himself."

"I'm afraid you've lost me."

"Anything can happen. And I do mean that, with every meaning implied."

"But Near, being realistic...."

Near gazed at the card. "Would you call anything I mentioned before 'realistic'?" He put _Death_ on his tower.

"...I guess I see your point. So do you have any theories about what kind of 'sinister' this could be?"

Silently, Near stood up and observed his handiwork.

It was a tarot card tower that looked suspiciously like an "L".

"No," he admitted, "because in a case as strange as this, one wrong assumption--" he reached for a card on the base "--could be the end of things."

Swiftly, he pulled the card out and sent his tower toppling to the ground.

"To be rather frank, Commander," he continued, unperturbed, "I'm ready for anything short of L being alive again."

* * *

**AN: Yes, I know, I stole that idea of him making a letter "L" with tarot cards from that end-of-the-series special chapter thing. Sue me. But I wanted him to be doing something with tarot cards, and I just couldn't think of any other good things for him to make.**

**'Til I update next time (whenever THAT'S gonna be),  
CK**


	15. Google

**AN: I'M BACK, BABY!! Sorry about that delay, but you know how it goes when you've got ten bazillion school projects due in one week (bleh). Plus I kinda got sick, and because my mummy is slightly evil she refused to let me get on the compy while staying home from school!! Le sigh.**

**But I'm updating now!! YAY!! Thanks for supporting me, you guys!!**

* * *

**February 14, 2011  
1:23 PM**

Normally L would never have compared himself to any sort of animal, but in this case he thought himself rather like a vulture.

A vulture that ate sweets instead of carcasses.

He had just been to a grocery store and a bakery down the street; the grocery was virtually out of some foods and the bakery had nearly bought them out of business. So many cakes, cookies, donuts, éclairs, strawberries, chocolates, black tea, coffee, jelly beans, cherries, sugar cubes, and jars of jelly were spread across the floor of his apartment that it would have overwhelmed most people.

But the biggest question L had was: what to eat first?

_Well, what the heck._ L grabbed the nearest box of cake and stuffed himself.

His body became ecstatically happy because of all the sweetness. Sugar sugar sugar...!! That was one reason L had been so intent on getting out of the old investigation building: Mido didn't have nearly enough sweets to keep L satisfied..

_Mido..._ L paused with a bit of cake left in the box. He still hadn't decided exactly when he was going back to see the doctor. Normally L wouldn't have given him a second thought and never would have even considered visiting him, but be wouldn't be that cruel to the man who had brought him back to life...

Would he?

But Mido wasn't his biggest worry at that moment. It was then, when his brain was up and functioning again, that he really began to analyze where he was. It was an apartment with only a sofa, a coffee maker, a stove, a refrigerator, and a separate bathroom; the walls were white and the floor was polished wood. It wasn't the same building that his computer had originally been in: this apartment was a few blocks away in a neighborhood that wasn't really any nicer. His first complaint about the place was that there had been a thin layer of dust covering the floor and the apartment's minimal furniture, but L had wiped it all up (one thing Watari had left a lasting impression about: keep things clean!!). The stove didn't work right, which posed a bit of a problem if he was going to try and make tea. But even though it wasn't one of the the high-scale hotels L was used to, it worked alright for him.

He had had at least one stroke of good luck: even though it hadn't been touched for seven years, his computer still functioned perfectly. After eating one of the cakes and a few cookies, L sat down and turned it on. By pure luck, perhaps, there was an Internet connection, and with a few swift keystrokes, the system was up and running.

Now to business.

_Light Yagami._

Well, he'd already determined the odds: now he just had to determine the truth.

He had nothing to lose, so why not try Google at least? He typed in "Light Yagami" and hit enter.

Well, there were hits all right, but not a single one seemed to be both useful and relevant. They were all either academic records from several years ago or bogus results that weren't worth the split second of time L took to look at them. Light's trail on the Internet seemed to disappear after 2009, when he apparently had graduated from To-Oh University.

_This isn't good._ L could reason that if Light's records disappeared, he had gone undercover... possibly to play L full-time. And if all of his records had disappeared, it made it impossible to determine if he'd died.

He briefly considered his other options. He supposed he could try to hack into the NPA's computer network, but he estimated that there was at least a 97% chance of failure: technology had almost certainly evolved too much for that to be a good plan. He could try contacting somebody... But that would seem extremely suspicious if he randomly asked a former acquaintance to look up a "Light Yagami". And it would pose a problem if another person--whether it be Light or someone else-- discovered that there was a second person using the alias L out there.

...But in theory he'd already done that.. That was essentially the reason he had dropped hints of his identity to Yamamoto: if he acted like the strange person he was in real life, he would stick out in anyone's mind, but mentioning Matsuda brought that to a whole new level of odd. Yamamoto was sure to go tell someone that a strange man said he knew a man in the police force.

It wouldn't take a whole lot of digging to figure out who that person was.

But chances of them thinking he was really L were extremely slim (at 1%, actually). That was where his plan lost it's predictability: he could only wait and see what the Japanese police would do next before determining his course of action.

And unfortunately, a good deal of determining his next move involved knowing what happened to Light._ The odds of him being alive are slim, but I don't think I can take the chance in case he is..._

Interestingly enough, it was because Amane was dead that he had his doubts. It was highly likely, at a 54% chance, that she had committed suicide because Light was also dead. But then there was a 26% chance that Light had found her no longer useful and had written it in the Death Note that she would go and kill herself. The other 20% of the possibilities ranged from ideas of Light leaving her for going undercover to other incidents completely unrelated to him.

L sighed, frustrated, and began to bit his thumb._ What am I going to do now that he seems to have vanished?!_

* * *

**February 15, 2011  
6:45 PM**

In several buildings across Tokyo, televisions--and L's computer--were displaying the day's news. L was watching in vain hopes that something useful would appear, and he had gone through several cups of coffee in the process.

The anchorwoman shuffled her papers and looked directly at the camera for the next bulletin. "...And yesterday the police announced that they have started a manhunt for a criminal that they believe to be hiding somewhere in Tokyo. His identity remains unknown, but authorities have released a sketch of him to be shown to be general public. Anyone with information on him should contact the National Police Agency immediately..."

L made the mistake of taking a sip of coffee right when the sketch of this criminal was displayed on the news. His immediate reaction was to spit the liquid across the room. (Later he realized that this was the second time he'd done that within the last month.)

_Is that_ me_?!_

It was, indeed, a rough sketch of L himself. He assessed that it was a fairly accurate interpretation, too. Maybe it wasn't bad enough that he couldn't go out in public at all, but he had to be cautious of where he went.

So, he was a wanted man. That wasn't exactly a new concept for him, though: several people around the world had attempted to see L behind bars--or dead--because of how it would positively affect the high-scale criminal lifestyle. Well, at least he had gained one thing out of this incident.

_Light is definitely not the person who had this broadcast. He's too realistic to go and attempt to catch a man he knows is dead, or even an impostor of this man, because he wouldn't see it as a threat._

_But someone out there does._

_...Fascinating._

Within seconds, L came up with a plan to confirm what he was already certain of.

* * *

**AN: ANOTHER EPIC CLIFFHANGER WHICH IS EPIC!! Jeez, I'm sorry that I always do this, but cliffhangers seem to be just about the only places I can cut these chapters off and still make things sound interesting.**

**Anywho, does anybody want to take a stab at what our favorite insomniac is gonna do?? XD I can't wait to see the responses for this one!!**

**Please R-n-R, as always.**


	16. I Hate Mondays

**AN: Te he, I absolutely loved writing this one. Especially the beginning half, for reasons I'm sure y'all can figure out on your own. ;-P **

* * *

**February 21, 2011  
10:37 AM**

"Hey, Matsuda!!" someone shouted to him. "The guys downstairs at the front desk want to see you for something!"

Matsuda sighed and headed for the elevator. "Thanks," he mumbled. _This had better not be one of those pranks they try and pull on me... And on a Monday, too... God I hate Mondays!..._

He was in a pretty bad mood: the weekend had been fun (he had finally convinced Yamamoto to go drinking with him again!!), but it had left him feeling hung over and tired. And as if things couldn't get any worse, he hadn't made it to the coffee pot fast enough to get his normal caffeine jolt.

As he walked down the hall, a man shouted, "Touta!! I heard some good stories about you from over the weekend!!"

_Oh_, Matsuda thought to himself,_ I forgot that things can ALWAYS get worse._

Matsuda gave him a weird look. "I don't think I want to know..."

The man laughed. "Smart move."

_Friggin' layabout..._

"Hey, Matsuda!" someone yelled at him as he reached the elevator. "Did ya have a good time last Saturday?" Without waiting for a response the man promptly laughed his ass off.

Matsuda groaned. "Very funny."

He made a mental note to ask Aizawa later to change his schedule so he no longer worked Mondays.

While in the elevator, another man stepped in next to Matsuda. "Hey," he said, "I heard that you had a good time this weekend!"

Matsuda ignored him.

_Mondays should be outlawed._

The elevator doors opened, and almost immediately after stepping out someone shouted Matsuda's name. "Hey, Touta!" Matsuda mentally prepared himself for another insult about the weekend. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised by the voice saying, "Someone mailed you a package yesterday!"

Matsuda sighed, and he walked up to the desk. "Thanks," he said as he took it from the man.

_Well, at least he didn't insult me..._

"Hey, I heard that you and Mr. Yamamoto had some fun last Saturday night, huh?" the guy asked jokingly.

_Oh good Lord, not from him too!!_

"Yeah... ha ha." Before any more could be said, Matsuda rushed back into he elevator and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the doors had shut.

He _really _didn't need anyone making fun of him this week. Hell, last week had been depressing enough: after it had been confirmed that Misa Amane had committed suicide, she had been laid to rest next to Light as she had requested in a note she had left. Within the next few days, her apartment would be available to rent again, and all traces of Misa-Misa's personal life would be practically all gone.

And along with her, many memoirs of Light Yagami's last few years alive had also disappeared. Now the only people able to remember him innocently were his mother, his sister, and a couple of his friends from high school.

_Ugh!! I've got to stop thinking about him!!_Matsuda turned his attention away from the past and onto this bulky envelope he had been given. It wasn't extremely full, but it was so oddly shaped that his curiosity was immediately perked.

_What the heck is in this thing...?_

Unable to wait until he reached his office, he decided to sneak a quick peek. He opened the top flap....

...Which he quickly decided had been a mistake. He shut the envelope a lot faster than he had opened it. "Oh my God!!" he said, trying to calm himself down.

When the doors opened, he took off running to Ide's tiny office. "IDE!!" he yelled.

Ide looked up from his newspaper. "Lemme guess: they were out of coffee, you have a hangover, and you've been insulted about Saturday night more times than you can count, so now you've come crying to _me_ about it."

"Surprisingly, you're wrong about that last bit." Matsuda pracically threw the package on Ide's desk. "We just got a problem that I think is slightly bigger than having a hangover."

_Oh no_, Ide thought, _did he say "we??"_

* * *

**1:02 PM**

"Someone sent Matsuda a video tape in an unmarked envelope?" Aizawa asked, obviously confused.

Again, for the second time in barely even a week, the whole Kira investigation team (plus Yamamoto) was crowded into Aizawa's office. Only Ide and Matsuda seemed to have any idea why they were all there, but from what Aizawa figured, it must have been important.

Then again, it _was_ Matsuda, after all.

"Yeah," Matsuda confirmed, "I was sent a tape today. Well, it was actually yesterday, but I wasn't here, and the guys at the front desk--"

"So you've watched the tape, and you think it's, uh, important for some reason?" interrupted Yamamoto.

"Well, um..." Matsuda almost visibly cringed. "No?"

"...'No' what?" Aizawa asked.

"No we haven't watched it," Matsuda admitted glumly.

Aizawa sighed and massaged his forehead. _Stupid Matsuda._ He leaned back in his chair. "Well, if you didn't watch it, then why he hell did you bring it directly here??"

"Because," Ide said, "we are both almost positive that it was sent to him by..." he lowered his voice, "Ryuzaki's impersonator."

Everyone in the room did a double take, and Aizawa practically jumped out of his chair. "WHAT??"

"It--it's true!!" Matsuda stammered.

Without hesitation, Aizawa grabbed the envelope and almost tore the top off.

"No wait! Don't open it!"

But it was too late. An incredibly strong smell filled the room, and everyone started gagging.

"What--the--hell??" Yamamoto gasped. He was almost doubled over from lack of oxygen.

"Tea bags," Ide managed.

"At least--none of you--were in--an elevator!!" Matsuda shouted. "I almost--passed out--when I--first opened it!!"

Aizawa coughed loudly, both to get everyone's attention and to try and clear the scent from his nose. It didn't work for either of those two things. "Mogi, turn on the air vent before we all suffocate!!"

Even Mogi was struggling to breathe as he walked over and flipped a switch on the wall. Almost immediately afterward, the smell of Earl Grey died a little, but it was still rather overwhelming. Aizawa reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out a plastic bag. "Ide, how is the tea in the envelope??"

"There are--three tea bags."

Aizawa frowned and coughed again. "Only _three_??"

"We think that he did--something--to make them--smell so strongly."

"'Strong'--is a bit--of an understatement--_don't you think?!_" gasped Yamamoto between breaths.

As quickly as Aizawa could, he took out the tea and stuffed all of it into the plastic bag. After a few moments everyone had stopped gagging  
and could breathe normally again.

"Matsuda," Aizawa said, "next time you hand me evidence that could possibly kill us all... _warn me_, would you?"

"Sorry," Matsuda mumbled.

"Can we move on?" asked Ide.

"Gladly." Aizawa opened the envelope again and looked at it closer. He noticed that the inside was covered in some sort of plastic--probably  
so that the smell of the tea wouldn't leak out unless it was actually opened. Turning it upside down, he shook the contents onto his desk. There was a video tape and a photograph.

"Look at the picture," Matsuda said. "There's some really weird stuff in it..."

It had landed face-down, and Aizawa picked it up. For a moment, he couldn't even tell what it was. "Is that... a cake??"

Yamamoto looked at it from over the chief's shoulder. "Um, maybe. It does look like a cake, but it's in the shape of...?"

None of them said it out loud, but then again, there wasn't much say unless they were going to state the obvious.

And in this case, "the obvious" happened to be a cake shaped like an Old English style "L".

Mogi also looked at the photo. He pointed to the corner. "A receipt," he gruffly said.

"Yeah, Matsuda and I noticed that," Ide said. "We looked at it close up, and somehow the date on that receipt reads..." He paused, unsure  
how he should continue.

"Well?" Aizawa pushed.

"November 5, 2004," Matsuda softly supplied.

Everyone understood the significance of the date except for Yamamoto. "Huh? What does that mean?"

"It's the date Ryuzaki died," Aizawa said quietly. Then abruptly his tone changed. "But you've gotta be kidding!! This guy knows so much about Ryuzaki that... it's practically impossible!!"

"That's not all," Ide continued. "Look at the name the receipt was actually charged under."

Aizawa, Yamamoto, and Mogi all squinted at the tiny Kanji symbols. Yamamoto was able to read it first, but he didn't quite get the  
meaning behind it. "Whoever ordered it, their surname is, um... yoru-kami?"

Aizawa whirled around at him.. "Say that again!"

Yamamoto looked almost afraid because of the crazy look in his boss's eyes. "Um, the Kanji for their last name is night-god. And I can't  
tell for sure, but I think this first name reads--"

"Tsuki," Mogi interrupted.

"Crap," muttered Aizawa. Now that he realized who's name it was, he looked at the receipt again and saw it.

夜神 月

Yoru-kami tsuki.

Night-god moon.

Light Yagami.

"Which means that this guy knows a helluva lot more than he should about the Kira investigation," Ide needlessly pointed out.

Aizawa groaned. He could understand why Matsuda and Ide had brought this straight to him without even bothering to watch the tape.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Matsuda asked.

"Like that isn't obvious!" Aizawa grabbed the phone and began dialing.

"Um, Chief?" Yamamoto asked, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Calling L. I don't know about any of you, but I sure as hell won't be able to sort this mess out on my own. "

* * *

**AN: Hmm, and they haven't even watched the tape yet... Which means that I have to come up with something for L to tell them really fast!! (*sweats a bit*) Nah, just kidding! I already know what he's gonna do!  
But if anyone out there wants to take a stab at his genius plan, go ahead. Or if you just want to laugh at poor Matsuda a bit more, then I guess that's okay too. ;-P**


	17. Video

**AN: Does anyone remember what I said a few chapters ago about Yamamoto being the new Matsuda? Well, after writing this one I can honestly say that that plan has gone down the drain.**

**I wonder how many of you just went "YAY!" about that...?**

* * *

**February 21, 2011  
2:15 PM in Tokyo, Japan**

**February 21, 2011  
12:15 AM at Near's Headquarters, USA**

"A video, hmm?" Near said after Aizawa had explained the situation to him.

"Yeah. Neither Matsuda nor Ide have claimed to have watched it--"

"Hey!!" Matsuda said angrily.

Aizawa rolled his eyes and ignored him. "Neither Matsuda nor Ide have claimed to have watched it, but none of us have had to watch it in order to figure out that he's a genius... The point is, L, this guy has gone too far with this whole thing, and none of us here feel like we have enough brain power put together to sort this whole mess out."

Near set something down, and it was audible over the line. "And none of you have watched this video."

"No."

"Could you watch it then?"

This confused Aizawa. "...L? You actually want us to watch it before you??"

"No Mr. Aizawa, you are going to stream the video here and all of us will watch it at the same time."

It made sense. "Well... Yes, of course. Let us set the computer up..."

A few minutes later, Aizawa said over the phone, "Alright. We can start it at any--"

"Roll it now, please. And if you don't mind, I would prefer your end of the line be on speaker-phone."

"Uh... Sure." Aizawa didn't entirely understand Near's reasoning for that, but he was hardly in the position to complain.

He started the tape.

On both sides of the line, there was some confusion when nothing appeared to happen when Aizawa pressed the 'Play' button, but then on the screen there suddenly appeared a disfigured... symbol. And along with it came a voice that had been processed through a computer.

"Greetings, to all of the investigation team and whoever else may be watching this. As you probably all know by now, I am Ryuzaki."

"Yeah, right," Matsuda burst out. "Ryuzaki died more than seven years ago and you--"

"Matsuda!!" Aizawa cut him off. "Shut up!!" Then he realized: that was why Near had wanted the phone on speaker. He could  
hear everything going on in Aizawa's office and gauge their reactions to the tape.

After a brief pause, the voice continued. "I can't be sure, but there is an 88% chance that Matsuda just had an outburst because he is angry  
at me for making such a normally preposterous claim."

Everyone watching the video--even Near--breathed in sharply.

"D-did he just say...?!" Yamamoto stammered.

"I can assume one important thing about those of you watching this," the voice said. There was a chuckle through the voice mask before he  
finished.

"L is among you."

Matsuda promptly fainted.

Yamamoto squeaked as he fell and was quickly on the floor giving Matsuda CPR.

"Oh snap," muttered Ide in an unusually high-pitched voice.

Aizawa couldn't help but notice that Near said nothing to this claim.

"Anyway," the voice said, "with that being said, I should like to know: 'To be or not to be?'"

"'To be or not to be?'..." Mogi repeated to himself.

"What the hell does that mean??" Aizawa asked nobody in particular.

"Mr. Aizawa, please let us hear the rest of what this impersonator has to say," Near said calmly on the other end of the phone line.

There was a crackle as the person voicing the video cleared his throat. "I am extremely intrigued to know the answer. Fortunately, I have an address that a reply can be sent to. It's listed on the receipt in the photograph. With that, I will take my leave. Until we meet again... L."

The tape crackled again as it ended.

"Crap," Matsuda said as he sat up and rubbed his skull where it had hit the floor. He had come to seconds before, and had no idea what was going on. "What'd I miss?"

"Yamamoto, you fill him in," Aizawa ordered a bit absentmindedly. "Well, L?"

"...Our impersonator has an interesting way of phrasing his ideas."

"What?" Ide asked.

"Didn't it strike you as odd how he formed some of his sentences? It could give us some useful hints..."

Aizawa frowned. "I'm sorry L, but what does sentence structure have to do with ANYTHING??"

"If I may quote him, 'there is an 88% chance that Matsuda just had an outburst because he is angry at me for making such a normally preposterous claim.' A claim that is normally preposterous, but not always so? It doesn't make any logical sense."

When Near phrased it that way, they understood. "What other, um, grammar problems does this guy have?" Matsuda asked. "Like, can his sentences be rearranged to mean something else...?"

Everyone in Aizawa's office looked at him like it was the stupidest idea they'd ever heard.

"To point out another example," Near continued, "do any of you know where the line 'To be or not to be?' came from?"

"Well, it isn't anything that was originally, um, Japanese... that much I can remember from school," said Yamamoto.

"It's Shakespeare," Near said, "which means that he is probably giving us an obscure hint to something."

"Well... okay," Ide said, "so what are you going to do?"

"I think I might watch the video a few more times on my own," Near said. "And I would like a copy of that photograph as well."

"Sounds good," Aizawa said. "Let us know if you come up with anything... L, do you want us to continue investigating here and playing that news bulletin?"

"Yes, keep investigating, but it is time to take the bulletin down. I only wanted it televised on the off chance that he would panic and do something stupid, but that is clearly not the case."

Aizawa nodded to himself. "Understood."

Near hung up without another word.

* * *

As much as Near didn't want to admit it, he had to think that the old investigation team was being rather stupid.

Really, they thought that _grammar_ was important??

That was a complete spur-of-the-moment example he had come up with to distract them (although the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had actually come up with something...). Ultimately, however, it had no importance that he could immediately see.

But that quote... that was another story.

"To be or not to be?" was more than a Shakespeare ripoff to Near. Certainly nobody raised outside of Wammy's House would have realized what this person actually meant. "To be or not to be?" ultimately resembled the philosophy all of them knew L had had throughout his life.

Ironically, it was now a philosophy Near faced on almost a daily basis.

And the symbol on the tape was also a very clever trick that Near was surprised the investigation team hadn't seen: almost nobody could instantly recognize a backwards, upside-down Old-English "L."

But while this was practically common knowledge at Wammy's, something just wasn't adding up. This person knew far too much--probably even more than Near thought he did--about L. While it would have been possible to get information from Wammy's, getting as much as he had about the Kira case was unbelievable. Even Near had started from scratch, and gathering all the important facts together had taken the better part of five years. The only way this man could have possibly done it would have been if he was also from Wammy's... but Near knew that nobody had left the orphanage for more than a decade, except for Mello, Matt, and himself. That was the only way this person could have known so much.

Or maybe if he was L himself, then it was possible.

But it wasn't possible...

Was it?

Suddenly the margin of 0.4% was looking rather large.

Well, Near knew what he had to do; it had become clear by now that this was no ordinary impostor. The only way he would ever find this fake L was--unfortunately--to play right into his hands. Near picked up a toy robot and clutched it to his chest.

_What am I going to do...?_

And when he finally came up with an answer that satisfied him, he felt--for nearly the first time in his life--truly scared of what he didn't know.

* * *

**AN: This is random, but is anyone out there scared by Aizawa's mustache in that final wrap-up bonus chapter thing?**

**Confession: I am.**

**I have absolutely no idea where that came from, but if you haven't seen it then you should. It is so mothereffin creepy that after rereading it the other day online I've officially decided I can no longer take Aizawa seriously. ****But please, for the purpose of my fic, pretend he has the same 'do as in the Mello/Near arc, because he HAS to be able to seriously boss Matsuda around.**

**...And now that I've got that bit of randomness out of my system, do me a favor and click that nice little icon below labeled "Review this Story/Chapter"... :-)**


	18. Torture

**AN: Hey, does anyone remember my promise that came waaaaaay back in chapter 4 that the story would get more interesting? If this doesn't do it for you than I'm not sure what will. BECAUSE GUESS WHAT??**

**No, wait. Scratch that... don't bother to guess, just READ!!**

* * *

**February 27, 2011  
3:33 PM**

In Tokyo, a man was examining an apartment building that he was considering renting. Tall and slender, with light brown hair and bright eyes, he was carefully inspecting the place from top to bottom looking for imperfections. But that wasn't really what was on his mind.

He was thinking about the apartment's former occupant.

_So this is the place Misa spent the last few years of her life,_ he thought._ I wonder how her life changed since the year we... lost contact. It's a shame that she committed suicide. She must have been terribly depressed because of..._

He purposely left that sentence unfinished.

Suddenly his hand found a curious nail sticking out of the woodwork. He wasn't certain, but it didn't seem to belong there. Cautiously he pulled on it; almost without warning a small compartment opened and something fell out. Automatically he jumped back, but then he realized nothing dangerous had fallen out.

After all, how on earth could a black notebook hurt anyone?

* * *

**The Realm of the Shinigami**

A sickly gray shinigami with bulging eyes sat on the edge of a viewing hole that looked upon the human world. He didn't need to add to his lifespan for a while, and he certainly wasn't looking at anyone in particular. Goodness forbid if he was in love with one of those disgusting things. He had just gotten bored of gambling and had a vague hope that something in the human world would catch his eye.

He wasn't having much luck.

There was a woman in a store, a family at a park, some bums sitting in jail, a hobo eating a piece of cake, some people in a workplace, a man and a woman--

What the hell??

He focused in on one of the images he saw. A man was looking at a notebook that was impossible for a shinigami to not immediately recognize. _Well I'll be damned!_

_That guy just found a Death Note!!_

The gray shinigami quickly thought back. What was the name of that bored shinigami that dropped a notebook a while back... Ryuk, wasn't it? But since then he remembered Ryuk had come back because his spare notebook had been burned.

Or so those other humans thought, anyway.

Ryuk hadn't exactly been clear on the details, but he had definitely implied in the stories he'd told that his second Death Note had not been destroyed; instead, it was probably very well hidden somewhere in the human city known as Tokyo. The gray shinigami didn't think into it too much: he didn't know how the minds of humans operated. For all he knew it was possible.

In which case, Ryuk should know that it was time for him to go back and posess someone once again.

The shinigami grinned as he thought up a plan to entertain himself for a little while. Spreading his large skeletal wings, he took off flying, first to make a quick stop in the human world and then to the cliffs where Ryuk was almost certainly sulking alone. From quite a distance away, he could see the oddly proportioned black body against the dull landscape.

_There he is, sitting up there all by himself... Probably thinking about the human world again._

"Ryuk," he said as he landed nearby, "what are you doing?"

"As if you care."

"Well, if yer not doing anything important then could I ask you something?"

"No. Go away."

The shinigami had figured that would be his response. "Fine, then. I guess that means I get this all to myself..." Reaching into some obsucurely odd position, he pulled something out of his tattered clothes.

An apple.

That instantly got Ryuk's attention. He practically drooled as he asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

As much as he tried disguising the interest in his voice, the pleasure leaked through. The shinigami gave him a sly smile. _So he really does love apples that much... this could get interesting._ "I'll give you the apple if you answer a question or two for me." As if to tempt Ryuk more he tossed it up into the air.

Ryuk's eyes never strayed from the apple. "Of course!! Whatever you want to know!"

_Gotcha._ "You dropped a second Death Note in the human world?"

"Yes. Can I have the--"

"No, answer a few more questions first. The owner died?"

"Yeah. Can I have--"

"Not yet. How'd he die?"

"I wrote his name down. Can I--"

"_NO. Not yet._ So did some other human really destroy that notebook?"

"Dumb humans thought they burned it. _Thought._ They didn't bother to test it to make sure it was real." Ryuk laughed a little at that memory. "Look, can I have that apple now??"

"One more question: where is it now?"

A sigh. "Hidden."

"Where?"

Ryuk scowled. "Dammit all, that's two questions!!"

_Hah, this is just as entertaining as I thought it'd be!_ "You really don't want this apple that bad?"

Ryuk's face fell. "No wait!! I do!! He hid it in a secret compartment in the place where he and his girlfriend lived!!"

The shinigami considered Ryuk's response and shrugged. "You answered better than I thought you would. So here's a treat for you." He tossed Ryuk the apple.

"Why're you asking me all these questions about my Death Note, anyway?" Ryuk said as he bit into the apple.

"I think someone picked it up."

Ryuk took a giant bite. "Eh, that's good to know. I'll check it out later."

The apple was gone in seconds, and just as he finished the gray shinigami tossed him another one he had kept hidden behind his back. Ryuk's eyes lit up, and unlike the first apple he took his time eating the second.

"Hey, Ryuk," the shinigami said, "that human that had picked up your Death Note... what'd he look like again?"

Ryuk responded between bites. "I dunno... I guess he was tall, with longish brown hair... they look kinda the same to me now." He swallowed the last of the second apple down. "Why do you ask?"

"Cuz the guy that just picked it up... I don't know much about humans, but I think he looks a helluva lot like the one you just described."

Ryuk laughed. "Hah, funny. I already told you, I killed that human a long time ago. Him being alive isn't possible..."

"Just thought I'd let you know. It might help you locate him or something."

"Like I'd listen to you. You thought it would be funny to torture me with apples."

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I was bored enough to give it a try."

"Heh, when I got bored, I dropped my Death Note." Ryuk laughed again. "I have to admit, it did get boring in the human world for a while, though..."

The shinigami walked away, not really caring what Ryuk thought. Had he stayed a little longer, he would have realized that Ryuk wasn't finished.

"Still," Ryuk said to himself as he stood up and stretched his wings, "someone picked up my Death Note... Well, it gives me an excuse to go get apples, if nothing else...." He grinned with anticipation as he took off toward the portal to the human world.

* * *

**AN: I can't remember who, but somebody complained to me in a review that I was posting filler. Well, I'm willing to admit it now: that's basically what it was. But hopefully there won't be much more.**

**Starting... NOW.**

**Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh OOH!! THE PLOT IS GETTING BETTER!!**

**Comments, questions, or concerns? ¿Preguntas? Submit a review!**


	19. Back Again!

**AN: Well.**

**Some of you will love what happens in this chapter. Some of you will be indifferent. And at least one of you is going to be pissed off that I had to resort to doing this to move the plot forward. But hey, after the last chapter... he kinda has to come back in somewhere now, doesn't he?**

**I hate to admit it, but if any chapter in this story is going to be boring/cliche/stupid, it'll probably be this one. Sorry. **

**But hey, I couldn't resist, because it's Halloween. And most of you know what that means... HAPPY BIRTHDAY L!!! WHOOOO Nikki and I are gonna have a party for him!!! YEAYA!!!! And I'm gonna be cosplaying for the first time tonight!! O.O Ha ha, not as L though. I have my doubts I could pull off L. **

**Anyway. Now that _that's_ outta my system...**

* * *

**February 28, 2011  
4:18 PM**

_Cake.  
Lots and lots of cake.  
And chocolate.  
Somehow the world is nearly perfect, and this nearly-perfect world is amazing.  
Now if only that obnoxious knocking noise would stop: then the world would be truely perfect and I can go and eat in peace--_

_Wait a minute._

L's eyes snapped open as he realized that he had dozed off in front of his computer. It almost never happened, but when it did he always slept for a ridiculous amount of time. He glanced at the computer clock and the date. He did the math in a hundredth of a second.

Four and a half hours.

...Actually, that wasn't too long for him. Usually he crashed for about six hours once or maybe twice a week.

But something had woken him up...

It was then that he realized someone was pounding on his door. Grumbling and not in the best mood to deal with anyone, he stood up to go see who his guest was.

_There's a 90% chance it's someone living in this building... a 4.5% chance it's a wrong address... a 2.3% chance it's a delivery of some kind... and a 1.6% chance that I finally have a response from that package I sent to Matsuda._

_In which case,_ it's about time!_ A week to respond is a bit much..._

L had sent it in with absolutely no idea if a reply would come. It would, again, depend on whether Light was still alive or not. If that much was true, and Light was alive, then there was a 99.9% chance that he had recognized it as a challenge. Knowing that, he almost certainly wouldn't hesitate to send L some kind of challenge back.

It was actually a relief that nothing had happened.

But the more L thought about it, the more he realized that anyone from Wammy's would have sent a reply as well. Of course, Light's reply was bound to be totally different than any from Wammy's House. But that nothing had happened at all was almost... disturbing.

So should this be a reply, that would most definetly be a good thing. L opened the door, fully prepared for almost any kind of person there. A neighbor, a wrong address, a delivery, or a reply... one of the four. Those were the only logical options.

Well, he got a good look at his visitor and realized that, for once, he was completely _wrong_.

It wasn't a neighbor, that was for sure.

The last time L had checked this man was not a mail carrier.

A reply from the police station? That theory went down the drain in less than 0.08 of a second.

And if this was the wrong address...

The doctor rolled his eyes as L stared at him. "Oh for God's sake, don't invite me in or anything..."

For once, L was almost speechless. "Mido-san??"

"Well, who'd you think it was? The police?"

L fought back the urge to point out that the police showing up on his doorstep would have made at least a _little_ more sense.

Mido invited himself in and made a face as he observed all the candy wrappers in the trash can. "You certainly didn't listen to any of my lectures on eating a balanced diet, did you?"

L didn't stop staring as he closed the door. "How did you find me here?"

"Huh? Oh for God's sake Ryuzaki, they displayed a sketch of you on television!! And then when you didn't come back in a week like you'd promised you would, I got worried, so--"

"Mido-san!!" L cut him off. "I didn't ask _why_ you found me. I asked _HOW_." He paused. "And I thought there weren't any electronics in your building."

The doctor frowned and sat down on the couch. "I found a television upstairs. I figured it was alright to watch the news once in a while, and then lo and behold!! You're wanted by the NPA. I should warn you: I am going to be seriously pissed off if you have to spend the rest of your life in prison."

L didn't even crack a smile. "Mido-san, you didn't answer the original question. How did you track me down??"

Mido winced at the tone. "You didn't think I'd let you go without knowing exactly where you were headed, did you?"

"I don't think it is very polite to spy on someone, Mido-san." L had spied on others many times before--_handcuffs_, anyone?--but he didn't exactly feel the need to point that out.

Mido considered that. "True... Alright, I'll tell you. I stuck a tracking dot on you."

_He did--_ "What??"

Mido smiled sheepishly. "It's true. I'm a little bit... paranoid about my patients' well being... So I put a tracking dot in your shoe in case I needed to find you." His smile turned into a grimace as he spoke.

L dashed across the room and picked up the shoes that he had taken and kept from Mido against his instinct to dump them in a trashcan. He felt along the inside and, sure enough, there was an awkward metal semicircle in the very toe of the right shoe. Any normal person would have noticed that there had been an odd bump in their sneaker, but L...

For once it had been against his luck that he hated wearing shoes.

"Alright, I suppose you got me there," L grudgingly admitted. Well, Mido had been paranoid enough to put security cameras in L's room: all things considered, this wasn't much of a step up.

Mido glanced around the apartment. "So this is where you live now..."

"For the time being." L shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to do about the situation, so he asked, "How long are you staying?"

"Not too long. I have to get back to work soon." Mido turned and looked directly at him. "May I ask a straightforward question?"

"..." L stared back. "Why not?"

"What is it that the police want you for?"

L realized he hadn't thought of a good excuse to tell anyone that might ask him why he was wanted. He instantaniously came up with a story that he thought was semi-believable. "I'm supposed to be dead, remember, Mido-san? One of my former aquaintances learned I was alive and essentially thinks I have committed identitly theft against his 'dead' friend."

Granted, nobody on the old task force had actually seen him, and the supposed crime was slightly more serious... but it was close enough to the truth.

Mido didn't seem to buy it. "They broadcasted you on television because you're suspected of _identity theft_..."

L twitched his nose. "It may be slightly more complicated than that, but 'identity theft' is the main concept."

That satisfied the doctor. "Ah..." Then he frowned. "Wait a minute, someone from your former life _saw you_??"

L shrugged. "By accident."

"Ryuzaki!! Do you realize how complicated things will get if you're that stupid??"

Those words took longer to register than they should have. _Did he just call me stupid...?!_

"I can take care of myself, Mido-san," L said stiffly.

But the doctor wasn't finished. "Did you think that maybe you could go back to your old life or something?? I hate to burst your bubble, but that won't be possible."

Hmm. Now that L thought about it, he realized that he had no idea or plan of what to do beyond figuring out whether Light was dead.

"I'll work it out when I get to it... Do you want anything to eat?" L changed the subject and realized that he was running out of ideas and things to say.

"Death by sugar?" Mido shuddered. "No thanks."

_Oh, if he had only seen the dream he had woken me from..._

As though he sensed that he had overstayed his welcome the doctor stood up to go. "Well, I know where you are and that you haven't died yet, so I should probably get going. My secretery is going to be very mad with me if I don't show before 5:30."

L shook his head. "Only at a 5% chance."

Mido frowned. "Why do you say that?"

L smirked. "Oh... No reason."

Mido shook his head. "I give up. You don't make sense half the time." He shut the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone L's smirk became a grin. He might not have been that social himself, but he knew when something was a boss-employee relationship and when something was a little deeper than that. He was rather surprised that Mido hadn't realized that he had seen as much.

L turned back to his computer. So now he had to come up with a new plan, since the police had apparently not responded to his first--

Someone knocked on his door. L rolled his eyes and opened it. "Yes Mido-san, what is it now?"

The doctor stood there with a sheepish grin on his face. "Do you have a few extra yen to spare? I only need enough for a subway ticket."

L reached in his pocket and gave the doctor some money. "Goodbye, Mido-san."

This time he made sure that the doctor left the hallway. L shook his head as he shut the door and walked over to the fridge. He hoped that he hadn't eaten all the cake last night--

There was another knock on the door.

_What does he want now??_ L sauntered over and threw the door open. "For the last time, what is it you--"

It was only then that he got a good look at the person standing there.

Short.

White pajamas.

White hair.

A toy robot under his arm.

L's eyes bulged as he--in 0.8 seconds--realized who he was looking at. "_Nate_??"

Nate--Near--who hadn't had an expression before--began to look almost afraid. "And might I ask who you are that you know my name??"

_Well well._ "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened to Light Yagami."

"He's dead." An automatic response.

L closed his eyes. He hadn't had any idea what he would feel upon learning what had happened to Light. "You're positive?"

"I saw him die with my own eyes."

L felt... relief. "Thank goodness..."

Near's expression faded from mildly frightened to unreadable. "Now to answer my question: you would be...?"

"Exactly who I told you I was from the very beginning."

L noticed that Near seemed to grip his robot slightly tighter. "That's not possible. There's only a likelihood of--"

"A 0.04% chance, I know." L stuck his head out into the hall and looked to make sure nobody was around. "Come in, please."

Near stepped inside without ever taking his eyes off of L. "Was that a lucky guess?"

"What?"

"The percentage you just listed. Was it a number you made up on the spot?"

"Made up? No. On the spot? Yes."

Near's eyes widened. "So how is it possible?"

L shrugged as he considered how to respond. "A... special doctor got my body."

Near frowned. "Prove it."

L raised an eyebrow. "Prove it?"

"I want to meet this doctor so I can judge for myself if you are really L."

L noticed that was the first time Nate had said his name out loud. "His name is Takeshi Mido... He lives across the city." He paused. "It's a shame you didn't get here sooner. He was here twice today, and you would have met him if you'd arrived here two minutes and thirty-one sec--"

There was a knock on the door.

L sighed, exasperated. "Again?!"

"_Ryuzaki!!_" the doctor yelled through the wall. "_I just learned something you might want to know!!_"

L sighed again. Near frowned at him, and L turned to the door. "Invite youself in, Mido-san. As it turns out there's someone here who wants to meet you."

Mido burst through but didn't stop for any introductions. Instead he dashed across the room and shut the window shades.

"Doctor Takeshi Mido?" Near asked.

Near was ignored. The doctor rushed back to the door and glanced down the hallway to make sure nobody was there. He slammed the door shut and reflexively pressed his body up against it. "Ryuzaki," Mido said, "I sure as hell hope you don't do anything else stupid to get the police's attention, because _I am NOT bringing you back to life again_."

Near's eyes got wider as he realized that L had been telling the truth. L's eyes got wider as he realized that Mido was actually scared about something. From what he'd perceived, it took something quite big to make him even a little antsy. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Mido just stared back. "Isn't it obvious?? Kira is back, and I am _positive_ that he won't be happy if he learns his victims aren't all as dead as they should be!!"

* * *

**AN: Honestly, what did you expect to happen? Just look at the summary for the story! **

**And Near... WHOA. He really wasn't kidding by "playing right into his hands" now, was he? But then again, that's just what I think of Near. I could probably picture him doing something totally drastic like that when he realizes hiding won't do him much good. **

**Anywho... REVIEW PRETTY PLEASE, BECAUSE IT'S L'S 30TH TODAY AND I WOULD TOTALLY LOVE IT IF EVERYONE REVIEWED BECAUSE OF THAT. (YAY!!! *has a spazzy fangirl moment*)**


	20. Childish Adult?

**AN: Hey there!! How're y'all doing?**

**Um.**

**Yeah, about not updating for about a month... things have been more than a little hectic around here lately. My school runs by trimesters instead of semesters, meaning the year is divided into three parts instead of two, and that makes all the finals fall right smack in the middle of November. D: NOT cool. There's that, and then I almost failed gym because I didn't attend enough. -.-' Oopsies.**

**And there was some rearranging of priorities, too. Most of you probably won't believe me when I offer this pitiful excuse, but my writing schedule during September was--and I swear to God that I am not BSing you guys--seriously affecting my health. Really: because I would stay up so late basically every night to type fanfiction, I got about six and a half hours of sleep on average, which is NOT enough at all. I actually got a cold that basically didn't go away for an entire freaking MONTH, if that's any proof of my pitiful health. So now I have to settle for writing in my spare time, which--again--is a pain for both y'all and myself.**

**Soo... yeah. Those are my two lame-o excuses.**

**But what the heck, you didn't look this story up to read the Author's Notes, didja??**

**

* * *

**

February 28, 2011  
4:45 PM

Mido had had a long day.

He wondered to himself of he was just overreacting a little... But then he thought it through and realized his position was reasonable enough: he'd been studying the bodies from the largest case of mass murder in the history of the planet for the past God-knew-how-many years, and when the murders finally seemed to have stopped--for whatever reason--he gave the go-ahead to bring probably the most important victim back to life. But then, barely four weeks later, the murders started again.

Talk about an exhausting situation: Mido was out of breath, out of reason, and just out of IT in general.

Whoops.

'Whoops' didn't even begin to cover it... and he didn't just think that: he mentally screamed at himself. _GOD DAMMIT, WHY??_

Leaning against the door in Ryuzaki's "temporary" apartment, he finally managed to slow his erratic breathing down. He just had to look at the situation a little more optimistically. Ryuzaki was smart--hell, he was better than smart, he was a freaking _genius_! And maybe even better: he had been on the NPA taskforce for catching Kira before his untimely death. If anybody could come up with a good plan, it would be him.

So the doctor became more than a little surprised when Ryuzaki turned to the boy to his left. With a perfectly calm voice, he asked, "I assume you will be taking this case?"

The words didn't seem to register to any of them: Mido had no idea what he was talking about, the boy seemed startled by it, and even Ryuzaki looked surprised by what he had said. Mido probably would have laughed about it if the context of the situation had been a little different, but as it was, he wanted to know what was going on.

And--oh hell, only then did he bother to think over what he had been saying to Ryuzaki with the kid in the room. _"I am NOT bringing you back to life again..."_

_Crap._

"Um, Ryuzaki? Who is this?" he asked cautiously as he eyed the white-haired boy.

Ryuzaki never took his eyes off the kid. "Someone who is very trustworthy, I assure you, Mido-san."

_...As if _that_ would satisfy my curiosity._

If Mido showed any physical signs of discomfort, Ryuzaki either didn't notice or ignored him completely. "Well? Are you willing to take it?"

Mido tried getting Ryuzaki's attention again. "Ryuzaki? Take what...? What are you two talking about?"

Again, he was ignored or unnoticed... but if he were to make an educated guess, Mido would have sworn it was the former.

The boy glanced down at his robot uncomfortably. "Is it really mine to take anymore?" he mumbled.

It sounded as though Ryuzaki was talking to the kid as though he was a detective... no, more than that: as though they were both detectives. _But that can't be right! Ryuzaki used to be on the investigation team, but this kid...?! He can't be more than fifteen years old!!... No, he's probably even younger than that... Maybe around twelve or so._

Unsurprisingly, it didn't make Mido feel any better that this kid knew what was being said in the conversation, while a doctor at least twice his age was completely lost. "Ryuzaki...!" he muttered again.

Ryuzaki was still making a point of ignoring the doctor. "If it convinces you more," he said to the boy, "it is quite compelling to me, personally. And so many people have died already..."

"What...?" Mido began to sputter before realizing he didn't even know what he planned to ask.

And he was still ignored.

After a few seconds, the white-haired boy's expression changed very subtly. He seemed to grow more conident, somehow, and he began to twirl a strand of his hair around his finger. "Alright then. We shall do it."

"Do what?"

As expected, neither of then noticed him. Again.

Mido wasn't even sure why he was talking anymore.

Ryuzaki eyed the boy for a moment before smiling slightly. "Yes. We."

_...Oh, screw this!_

"_RYUZAKI!!_" the doctor said in an obnoxiously loud voice. "Would you mind telling me what the hell you two are discussing?? Not to mention: _who is this kid anyway_??"

The boy's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at what Mido had said. Ryuzaki didn't change his expression at all. "It's quite alright, Mido-san. We are talking about the Kira case, and he heads a very important U.S. operation that might be able to help us cath Kira."

Mido raised an eyebrow as he glanced the boy over. "You have to be kidding me. Since when do _teenagers_ become government operatives?"

The boy's nose twitched. "Excuse me Dr. Takeshi Mido, but I am nineteen and a half years old, and in the United States I am legally an adult with full rights as a citizen."

_An adult...?_

_...Oops..._

_Damn, though, that is one... childish adult._

_And that was one strange phrase._

"So... He's a nineteen-year-old that heads a government project from the United States that will help the police catch Kira," Mido restated. "Is that right?"

"Essentially."

_Oh. Sure, okay._

_And he expects me to believe that??_

But it was Ryuzaki, after all: the man had so many secrets that even Mido doubted he would be interested in learning them all. As much as it bugged the doctor, he forced himself to focus on the problem in front of them.

Kira.

_There has to be_ something_ I could contribute..._

"You can use it, you know," he suddenly stated.

The boy--the _childish adult_--looked confused, and even Ryuzaki seemed a little startled.

"The building, I mean," Mido corrected himself. "You need some place to head his whole hoity-toity operation from, and technically it _is_ my building to lend out..."

"When can I move in?" the childish adult asked.

_...Well, he certainly didn't beat around the bush._

"...Tomorrow, I sup--"

"Good." The boy turned to Ryuzaki. "I have to leave. My second-in-command, Mr. Rester, will begin to worry if I do not call him very soon, and chances are he will come in holding a gun."

"Yes, you should go."

Without a goodbye or even a glance backwards, the childish adult walked out of the apartment.

Mido turned his attention to Ryuzaki and glared. "_Ahem_."

Perfectly at ease, Ryyzaki faced him. "Yes, Mido-san?"

"I demand an explaination."

"For what?"

"...How about everything?"

"In time, Mido-san, in time. I promise."

"Oh please, we _both_ remember what happened the last time you promised something."

"Really? I'm afraid I don't remember."

Liar.

Mido sighed. "You were going to come and visit me last week to prove you hadn't gone and died on me again."

"Oh."

"Humor me at least one time," Mido said.

Ryuzaki seemed to think it over for a moment. "Alright then. One question. No more, no less."

_Finally, I might get a reasonable answer!!_ "What was his name?"

"The white-haired boy?"

Mido nodded.

"Near."

_Near... Near?_ Near??

What the hell kind of answer was that??

"But Ryuzaki--!!"

"Nope. One question only." Ryuzaki turned around and began to pick up the apartment. "Would you help me pack up my things?"

...!!

It was official: Mido gave up.

"...What? Where are you going?"

"Well, it appears that I am going to move back into the old investigation building. Even with a whole team of agents, Near will need help catching Kira."

...

Mido got the feeling that his life would, from that point forward, be a long string of headaches.

* * *

**AN: ****Here's a really disturbing statistic I learned when doing a report on STDs: out of all the people with HIV, about 75% of them are men. AND (this is the disturbing part) _47% of ALL the people that get HIV are men having sex with men._ I am 100% serious. **

**Just my way of ruining the day of all you yaoi-loving fangirls. (*cough*Nikki!*cough*)**

**...You know what I just realized? In the Author's Note for the previous chapter, when I mentioned that some people would be happy, some neutral, and at least one person pissed? I didn't mean the return of Kira like most of you said in your wonderful reviews; I meant the return of Mido. But hey, I guess it applies both ways.**

**To submit other confusing comments for me to interpret, hit that nice little green button below.**


	21. The Old Building

**AN: Oh, curses!! That only made you guys laugh?? Rats. That was not my intention at all.**

**Hmph.**

**Oh, look!! It seems that there might be a tiny hint of plot in this chapter that seemed to be missing from the previous update!!**

* * *

**March 1, 2011  
5:32 AM**

Aizawa spent the night sitting--erm, sleeping--at his desk.

_Can't miss the call, gotta stay for that phone call..._

Even without physical proof or even any rumors about it, he was quite certain that Near was taking the new Kira case. And chances were high that he might ask for the assistance of the old investigation team. Maybe he didn't _need_ their help, but it would be stupid to ignore them after all they had done in the past.

At least, that had been his logic 12 hours ago. Near _still_hadn't called, and as much as he tried to ignore it, Aizawa was getting antsy about it.

He nearly jumped out of his seat when the phone actually rang.

With a motion that could almost be called over-exaggerated, he grabbed for the phone across his desk and picked up. "Hello?"

"Strange. I didn't think the police station was open this early."

Aizawa sagged into his chair with relief as he heard the computerized voice. "Well, it isn't, really, but I waited all night because I was expecting you to call."

"Hmm. I don't suppose I need to explain why I'm talking to you then, do I?"

"The new Kira."

"Exactly."

There was an odd pause on the phone. A muffled noise came from Near's end of the line.

"Erm... Near?"

"Yesh?"

_...What is he doing?_

"Uh... were you going to say something?"

"Hmm? OH! Yes: I've taken the liberty of renting out the old investigation building. I would like for you to bring all of the investigators from before inside at exactly one o'clock."

It was a simple enough request. "Of course."

"Oh, and would you bring me some strawberry cake as well?"

_...?_

"Well... Sure, I suppose."

"Thank you, Mr. Aizawa."

The line went dead.

Aizawa couldn't help but wonder why Near wanted cake.

* * *

L put the phone back on it's hook with an almost disgusted look on his face. Reaching his spoon into an ice cream bowl, he muttered to himself, "And I _thought_Aizawa-san was smarter than that..."

Near walked into the computer room with a box, probably filled with toys. "What makes you say that Mr. Aizawa is stupid?"

L shrugged and took a large gob of ice cream into his mouth. After swallowing, he said, "He completely thought I was L."

"...If I may point it out, you_ are_ L."

"Not the L he believed me to be." He had another spoonful before continuing to rant. "I purposely eat over the phone, I didn't try to act like you, and I asked him to bring me a cake... And now that you mention it, he didn't even _ask_ me if I _was_ L! I could have just been a psycho man with a voice changer and he wouldn't have known!"

"You're exaggerating and you know it."

"...Just a little."

L went back to his ice cream as Near took the box over to the elevator and went up several floors. By the time he had come back, L had licked the bowl clean.

"Should we perhaps review the plan again?" Near asked.

L licked a finger. "The detectives arrive here at approximately one o'clock this afternoon. By then I will be upstairs, and you can try to explain to them that I am not an imposter and have really... Well, you know the rest." He licked another finger.

"And I eventually have you come back down here to prove that I wasn't lying," Near added.

"Right."

"..."

"..."

"And... What do we do for the next seven hours?" Near asked. "Should we work on the Kira case?"

L thought for a moment. "No, not yet. First..."

He paused.

"I need you to tell me every detail of the case after I died. Including the full story of what happened to Light."

**

* * *

**

12:29 PM

"Matsuda!! This has to be the stupidest idea you've _ever_ had!!"

"Oh, come on! Live a little, Yamamoto!"

"I've lived my life plenty! _Especially last Saturday, thank you very much!_"

"But Yamam--"

"_NO!!_"

Matsuda sighed. They were standing outside the old investigation headquarters while waiting for the others to show up, and Matsuda was bored enough to suggest they go in early and explore.

Needless to say, Yamamoto didn't think it was a good idea at all.

"Matsuda, the Chief said to be here and waiting at one o'clock, not inside exploring!!"

"So what? We can go in and come back out with plenty of time left before one!"

"But--but what if something goes wrong??

Matsuda rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah? What could go wrong?"

"I dunno! What if there's... a mad scientist in the basement? Or _zombies_??"

All that got out of Matsuda was a good laugh. "Come ON!! Like there would be some 'living-dead' people in the basement of an abandoned building in the middle of Tokyo!!" Without waiting for another crazy theory, he grabbed Yamamoto's arm and dragged him down the ramp built for cars to enter. "You're coming with me and that's that!!"

"_MATSUDA!!_"

They reached a small machine by a large, solid steel door, and Matsuda examined it over before hitting some keys. "Lemme see... Hey, my passcode still works!!"

"We should _NOT _be down here!!"

Matsuda did fingerprint and retina scans. "Oh, shut up! You're no fun! If you're not any fun then you aren't allowed to be on the team!"

"...I didn't _want_ to be on the team. I just got dragged into it because YOU--!"

Just then the large garage-like door opened.

"Come on, let's go!"

Yamamoto sighed and gave up talking Matsuda out of it. "You are _soooooo_ taking the blame for this..."

"Blame for what, having fun?"

"No, the blame for not waiting for the Chief when we don't even know why we're here at an abandoned building in the first place!!"

"Well, it's Aizawa's own fault that he didn't bother to tell us what we're here for in the first place!"

Matsuda paused for a moment at that. Now that he thought about it, it _was_rather unusual to receive instructions from Aizawa without any explaination...

"Oh well," he muttered as he dragged Yamamoto along.

* * *

**12:46 PM**

"Where the hell are Matsuda and Yamamoto??" Ide said aloud.

He, Mogi, and Aizawa were standing in front of the investigation building waiting for their colleagues to appear. Strangely enough, while Matsuda and Yamamoto were considered the least responsible of the group, they almost always showed up at work extremely early.

And when they didn't, it meant something was wrong.

"Okay, that's it," Aizawa said, "I'm going to call him!"

He pulled out a cellphone and dialed Matsuda's number. On the second ring, he picked up. "Hey, Aizawa!"

"We're all waiting for you!! What's taking you so long to show up??"

"I got bored, so I took Yamamoto in to show him around the building. Can you believe that our codes still work??"

Aizawa froze. Near had told him to enter the building at _exactly_ one o'clock. "_You're inside?!_"

"Yeah, and we have a problem: this place looks lived in! There's boxes lying all over the place with TOYS inside!"

Aizawa gritted his teeth. "Get out of there _right now_!!"

"Huh? We're kind of on the fifteenth floor right now--"

"NEVER MIND!! We'll meet you by the elevators." He snapped his phone shut. "Come on, we're going in!"

"Why don't we just wait out here?" Mogi asked.

"Because Matsuda is an idiot and has screwed everything up!! They'll get out of there faster if we all go in and drag them out. Come on!"

The three of them rushed into the old investigation building.

* * *

L was on his fifth bowl of ice cream for the day when he heard the voices.

"Where are those two??"

"Matsuda, when we get out of this I'm gonna--"

But of course, by then it was too late. A man with a seriously pissed expression on his face walked in-- _Wait, is that Aizawa??_

And behind him were two others: Mogi and Ide.

The three of them stopped and stared.

L's spoon, which had been on the way to his mouth, stopped in mid-air.

They stared some more.

Then Aizawa's expression began to change from "pissed off" to "REALLY pissed off."

It took L's genius mind only a second to figure out what was going to happen next. _Aizawa will think that I was pretending to be Near so I could set some kind of trap, and chances are he will attempt to arrest me for supposedly impersonating L because he doesn't realize that I_ am _L, and it is also possible he will think that I've kidnapped Near, who is supposedly the _real_ L--_

He lost his train of thought when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

**

* * *

**

AN: ...Did I describe this chapter as having a _tiny_ bit of plot in the first author's note?? Wow, understatement!!

**Erm, yeah, Rosie? Sorry 'bout the extremely poor pun that I tossed in there. I really couldn't resist.**

**I dare the rest of you to figure out what I'm talking about. O.o**

**Review please!!! :D**


	22. Disbelief

**AN: HUZZAH!!!! I HAVE 300+ REVIEWS!!! :D :D :D :D :D THANK YOU, ALL YOU GUYS!!! And OH MY GARSH, I'm sorry I left it on such a bad cliffhanger!! Y'all probably hate me! D: So, on to the chappie!! **

**OH! But quickly: I would like to point out that L didn't immediately recognize Aizawa in the last chapter because his physical appearance changed so much. Think about it: after going through that time skip, Aizawa looks like a totally different guy. And I guess that if you wanted to you could blame some of it on the fact that L went and DIED, but to me that wouldn't explain all of it...**

**Anyway.**

* * *

**March 1, 2011  
12:57 PM**

The room was dead silent for a few moments as they all stood stock still trying to decide what to do.

"What's going on?" asked Ide slowly.

"Who the hell are you??" Aizawa angrily questioned.

Mogi was quiet, but he seemed strained under the silence.

L sighed. "Aizawa-san, I thought that I had instructed you to enter this building at one o'clock."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed.

_He doesn't believe I'm alive._ L put his thumb in his mouth. "This wasn't quite what I'd expected to happen... but I don't suppose it could be helped."

In truth, he had considered the possibility at about a 5% chance of occurring... But realistically, a _5% chance_??

Then again, that had been the rational likelihood of Light being Kira, too.

"_Excuse me_," Ide pointedly said. "Could we get an explanation?"

L stared at the old investigation team; three seconds later he sighed for a second time. "You would have gotten an explanation anyway... But first."

L very nearly glared as he turned his attention to the other end of the room.

"Mido-san, I really have no idea if you know how to properly use that thing. So please, put your gun away before you kill somebody."

* * *

While moving through one of the private rooms on the fifteenth floor of the investigation building, Matsuda suddenly stopped and stood completely still. He was so quiet that Yamamoto hadn't even noticed until he had moved several yards ahead of him.

"Hey Matsuda?" he asked as he turned around. "Shouldn't we be going towards the elevator now like Aizawa told us to--?"

"_Shhh!!_" Matsuda harshly whispered back to him. Cautiously he glanced around. "I think I heard something!"

Yamamoto didn't get it. "...So?"

"This building has been abandoned for _seven years_."

Yamamoto sighed. Matsuda could be rather... paranoid sometimes. "That doesn't mean _anything!_ It could be a rat or something--"

"_Do rats leave boxes of toys lying around??_"

Oh.

...He had a point.

When in doubt, Yamamoto's first reaction as an officer of the law was to reach for his gun. Only then did he remember that Aizawa had asked that none of them bring guns to the building with them. _Crap._

"Are you _sure _something's wrong??" he muttered to Matsuda.

"No."

Matsuda reached into his coat and took out a small pistol-- "_Wait a second, you weren't supposed to bring any guns to this place!_" Yamamoto yelled in a whisper.

Matsuda just rolled his eyes. "Get behind me!"

Even though he was still unsure, Yamamoto didn't wait to be told a second time. "Where d'ya think the noise came from?"

Matsuda considered his question and whirled around. "In... there." He pointed his gun towards one of the closed doors a few feet to their right. Slowly the two of them inched toward it and Matsuda--in one quick kick--knocked it open.

"Alright, _come out with you hands--!_"

He was unable to finish his order.

* * *

The doctor rolled his eyes as he steadily gripped the gun in his hands. "Of _course _I know how to use this." It was definitely not a lie: several years ago Mido had had good reasons to keep a gun around, and he wasn't stupid enough to become rusty at target practice as time passed.

Ryuzaki's harsh expression didn't fade. "I didn't ask you if you could point it at a police officer; I asked you if you could _please put the gun away_."

Against his instincts, Mido reluctantly turned on the Beretta's safety and stuck it in his pocket. "You make it sound as though I wasn't doing you a favor."

Ryuzaki turned to the ice cream bowl in his hand and ate a spoonful. "...Thank you for defending my honor when I more than likely would have done fine on my own."

Mido didn't like his unappreciative tone. "Well, _gosh_," he sarcastically responded, "I see three police officers that look prepared to arrest someone walking into the building--_MY_ building--and I'm supposed to assume there isn't a threat?? Then, of course, I see on the security cameras that they're heading for the _ONE_ person to ever die and be brought back to _LIFE_, and how the hell am I supposed to--"

"Ryuzaki."

Everyone turned towards one of the three officers--a large, muscular man--as they heard him speak.

"You really aren't dead," he said gruffly.

Silently they all took in what he said.

"Do I appear dead to you, Mogi-san?" Ryuzaki spoke in a soft voice.

"No. But none of us thought..." The man--Mogi--trailed off.

Mido nearly smirked to himself. _Apparently one of them can easily accept that Ryuzaki is alive..._

"But that's... PREPOSTEROUS!!" another one of the three said in an exasperated tone. Mido wasn't 100% sure who he was, but he would have guessed he was the one in charge. But even so, clearly this guy didn't know what sort of situation he was dealing with anymore. "You DID die, and you died in front of us, no less!! _It's not possible!!_"

Mido rolled his eyes. _Hasn't he ever heard the phrase "Anything is possible?"_

Ryuzaki frowned and ate another spoonful of his ice cream. "Excuse me, Aizawa-san. It appears to me that Near didn't reach that same conclusion."

Mido noticed that the three of them all reacted to the name with wide eyes.

"You... _spoke with Near_," the last of the officers said in a monotone. From the way his eyebrows were raised, anyone could tell he was rather shocked by the prospect.

"Of course I did," Ryuzaki said.

_And that reminds me..._

"Erm, speaking of Near," Mido interjected, "don't you think he'll want to know about these guys...?"

"Hmm... Yes, he will," Ryuzaki replied as another spoonful of ice cream went into his mouth. "I don't suppose you would go upstairs and--"

"_What??_" the one in charge--Aizawa?--asked. "_He's UPSTAIRS??_"

Ryuzaki ignored him; as much as he tried not to, Mido was secretly glad that he wasn't the only person Ryuzaki didn't pay attention to. "I don't suppose you would go get him, would you?" Ryuzaki finished, unperturbed.

The doctor eyed the three officers for a moment before shrugging. "As long as none of them try to kill you..." He frowned. "What floor is Near on, anyway?"

"The fifteenth."

Aizawa drew in a sharp breath. "Oh, _crap_."

* * *

**AN: XD  
Wanna take a stab at what happened to Matsuda and Yamamoto?**

**Hey, if you have time, check out the poll I put up on my profile. From what I understand, there's been a lot of controversy over Zac Efron starring as Light in a new Death Note movie... He looks like Light, yeah, but could he pull off being Kira? Vote!!  
(Of course, being the L fan that I am, I'm more worried about who will play our favorite insomniac detective... To quote my good friend Mickaroo, those are some BIG shoes to fill...)  
(Okay, so we don't know if L literally has big feet, but you know what I mean.)**

**So that's the agenda for the day: read, review, vote, and figure out L's shoe size. :P**

**(And did I say THANK YOU FOR 300 REVIEWS??? Seriously, you guys ROCK!!!)  
**


	23. Transformers

**AN: ...**

**D: **

**Wow, I suck. The internet here in the boonies isn't so hot when there's a lot of snow. I didn't even get the chance to update for Christmas. So... a New Years update? Will that make you guys forgive me? Plz? Yes?... Good. **

**The long string of four-ish chapters (that I considered filler upon rereading them) will END after I wrap up the whole "Holy-crap-L's-really-ALIVE!!" thing in this one. Promise. Then we've gotta figure out who this new, mysteriously Light-like Kira fellow is.**

**Oh yeah. The heat is _on_, baby. **

**

* * *

**

March 1, 2011  
1:02 PM

"Ide! Mogi!" Aizawa barked as he started for the elevator. "Come on--"

"Aizawa-san," Ryuzaki got his attention. "Stay here, please. Whatever it is upstairs on the fifteenth floor, I believe that it can wait."

As much as Mido didn't like leaving Ryuzaki alone for any amount of time, he realized that the situation would probably get much better if Near was around to help with the explaining. He just shrugged. "I'll... just be right back."

Aizawa didn't seem too comfortable with that idea. "Oh, _Lordy_..."

If he had planned on saying anything after that, Mido didn't stick around to hear it. Seconds later and several floors higher, he stepped out of the elevator and glanced around the hallway. "Near?" he called out.

"Dr. Mido," came a muffled reply, "if you don't mind, I could use your assistance..."

The doctor frowned as he walked toward Near's voice. "What is it? Are you alright?"

"How does one treat a concussion?"

_Oh God...!_

"You have a concussion??" Mido practically sprinted the length of the hall. It was surprisingly difficult to run quickly because there were several piles of boxes that were literally stacked up to the ceiling, but the doctor managed. _I don't know how, but I'm going to be blamed for this. Oh hell, Ryuzaki is going to _kill_ me if Near isn't okay--!!_

Instead, as he stopped in the doorway to one of the rooms, Mido found an extremely unexpected sight: Near was unhurt and on the floor next to two more NPA officers. Both of them were holding the sides of their heads, as though they had been badly injured. And scattered around all of them were several...

..._Transformers??_

"...Near... what the hell happened??" Mido asked, confused.

One of the officers, a skinny man with glasses, looked up at him with a sheepish expression on his face. "Oww..."

The other one looked up as well, but his countenance appeared ten times more embarressed. "We heard a noise..." he squeaked.

"_We??_" The one with glasses smacked the other on the back on the head.

"OUCH!! _YAMAMOTO!!_"

"_WE heard a noise??_ Excuse me, but _YOU_ heard the noise _AND nearly killed the both of us!!_"

Mido felt like he was missing something. "You were almost killed?? By _what_??"

Near stood up and began twirling his hair with a finger; the faintest trace an annoyed expression was etched on his face. "Well, that's what happens when one opens the wrong door to my rooms. Things..." he gestured to the toys sprawled on the floor, "...have a tendency to _fall_."

Suddenly it made perfect sense: the way some of the boxes were stacked, it wouldn't take much force to knock a whole pile over. Mido had the insane urge to laugh. What were the odds of getting a concussion from a Transformer??

He also had the strange urge to borrow Ryuzaki's annoying habit and list an unusually high percentage.

Near rubbed his forehead slightly. As if reading the doctor's mind, he added, "And so the chances of one of them having gained a serious head injury are at 72%... Matsuda, you _idiot..._"

* * *

"Alright," Aizawa said to gain everyone's attention. "So how are you... alive??"

"Did you fake your death?" Ide asked.

L shrugged and appeared to be indifferent. "If only it were that simple." He ate another spoonful of ice cream. "To be quite frank," he mumbled through a full mouth, "I died and stayed dead for a full six years, two months, and twenty-six days."

"...WHAT?!"

"HOW??"

"L!!"

"Please," L said in an almost bored tone, "don't call me L. It's still Ryuzaki. For the record, Near is L... But we would rather prefer it if you didn't call him that either."

The three of them regained most of their composure, and Aizawa asked, "W-why??"

"There are two good reasons: one, because Mido-san doesn't know, nor does he need to know that the two greatest detectives in the world are here in this building; and two, to keep from drawing unnecessary attention."

"Mido-san?" Mogi questioned with a frown.

Fully aware of what he was saying, L responded, "The man with the gun. He's the doctor that brought me back to life in the basement."

For a moment, what L had said didn't register to any of them.

"...He did _WHAT_?!"

L had seen it coming, of course, but he had been unable to resist aggravating the Kira Taskforce just a little bit more. And it worked: calling their reaction to that statement "surprised" was like saying that L had a mild taste for sweets. It was under-exaggerated no matter how it was phrased.

"THE GUY THAT TRIED TO KILL US??"

"_THIS _BASEMENT??"

"YOU'RE KIDDING!!"

L shook his head and refrained from rolling his eyes. "I'm being 100% serious. I have a more detailed version of the same story if you would be willing to listen to it, however."

The three of them were silent for a moment.

"Since when has anyone refused a story from the great L himself?" Ide muttered quietly.

* * *

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

"...You like playing with that pen, don't you?" Ryuk asked the human.

Said human turned his head towards the shinigami with a bored expression. "A pen is all I need now."

* * *

**AN: O.O**

**PLOT!! **

**I'm still not going to tell you if that's really who you think it is or not. My lips are sealed as to what was/is/will be going on. But if you want to review and take a gander at what I'm gonna do, by all means, be my guest.**

**(Did I really just say that? "Take a gander"...?)**

**OH, the poll!! :D A good 70+% of you think that Zac would SUCK as Light. And because a lot of you mentioned Johnny Depp being L in your reviews, I stuck another poll up about that. XD**


	24. Trap

**AN: Hmm, I just realized that Rester, Gevanni, and Lidner haven't been in the story much... Well actually, not at all, for those last two. ****At least they were out of the action doing something useful. (*hint*read on*hint*)**

**About the poll... half of you said "NO!!" a really large portion of you said "YES!!" there was a single vote saying that you didn't care, and there was one very unfortunate soul that didn't know who Johnny Depp was. O.O **

**And for those of you really concerned about my lack of updates, I have a note at the bottom about that. But without any further ado...**

* * *

**March 1, 2011  
1:39 PM**

"Well, Ryuzaki," Matsuda asked with a bit too much enthusiasm, "what's the first step to catching Kira?"

Somehow, despite a nasty bump to the head, Matsuda remained as energized as ever about the task at hand. To his credit, he'd somehow figured out what was going on all on his own before anyone could actually explain it to him, and Yamamoto was vaguely able to pick up on the fact that "Ryuzaki" was not actually dead.

Thus, it seemed that everyone knew that the original L was really alive, with the exception of Mido (but L figured that he didn't need to know the whole story). The doctor had retreated to the basement to let them begin investigating Kira on their own.

"Actually," Near said, twirling his hair, "we already did a few computer analyses of the criminals killed as of yet, as well as a search for unusual concentrations of deaths based on several defining factors."

It took them all a moment to mentally translate what Near had said into terms they could understand.

"And? Anything?" Ide asked.

L bit into a donut in his hand. "Nothing, as of yet."

"Really? Nothing?"

"Well," L responded between bites, "it is already highly likely that this newest Kira is also in Japan simply because all three previous Kiras were here... but we haven't confirmed that yet."

Aizawa thought for a moment. "What percentage would--"

"Fifty-seven-point-two," L and Near responded at the same time.

Matsuda smiled and rolled his eyes. "You guys are so similar it creeps me out."

Yamamoto coughed awkwardly.

"The facts you should know," Near said, "are that on February 27, 2011 at 11:37 PM local time, an English inmate collapsed of cardiac arrest. Over the next few hours, at least 200 other known criminals died."

"Only 200? Isn't that a relatively small number?"

L resisted the urge to groan. "That was only during the first _three hours_, Matsuda-san. The death toll is probably over 1,000 by now."

"Oh... yeah..."

"After that first amount of time," Near continued, "the rate that criminals died became significantly lower and is now at the present rate of approximately twenty per day."

"Ouch." Aizawa winced. L understood how he felt: if 20 died in a day, it amounted to 140 a week, 620 a month, and more than 7,000 dead _in a year_.

Not that he was counting or anything.

"Although the first victim was actually in England," L said after another bite from his donut, "we can be fairly certain that Kira is in Japan because of the times of death. In Japan time, the first casualty occurred at 8:37 in the morning on February 28, and since then the deaths have been scattered around times that are generally during Japanese daylight hours."

"So we can reasonably assume that Kira is either in Japan or in another nearby time zone," Ide summarized.

"Correct. The probable chance of the newest Kira being here is, again, also significantly higher simply because the previous Kiras were also Japanese."

L looked around at the investigation team to take in their reactions. Aizawa was nodding to himself, Ide was thinking it over, Mogi was strong and silent like always, and Matsuda was puzzling it over by scratching the top of his head. But there was one person that was frowning to himself.

Yamamoto.

"Is something wrong, Yamamoto-san?" L asked.

His head snapped up, surprised. "Well, um... No, I was just thinking... Have we got any way of definitely, um, confirming Kira is here in Japan, though?"

Just then, the door to the elevator opened, and Lidner stepped out with Gevanni and Rester close behind her.

"Who're they?" Yamamoto immediately asked. He began to reach for his gun, clearly out of instinct rather than actual fear, but a firm hand landed on his arm and stopped him.

"No, wait: the rest of us met these three before when working to catch Kira," Aizawa informed him.

_Well, _that_ was certainly a way of putting it_, L thought to himself. He was completely aware of what had happened at the Yellow Box Warehouse some fourteen months ago and how it must be rather awkward for the SPK members and Kira Investigation Team to see each other again like this.

"Lidner, Rester, and... Gevanni, right?" Mogi asked.

"Right," Gevanni said.

Yamamoto looked lost.

Lidner looked proud. "Well, it's done," she said, turning to L and Near.

All the investigators were confused. "What's done?" asked Matsuda.

"Oh, good," L said. "Aizawa-san, Mogi-san, Matsuda-san, Ide-san, and Yamamoto-san, we can now confirm whether this Kira is indeed in Japan or not."

* * *

On January 19, 2002, an American man named Jaymes Fosse was convicted entirely in secret for the murder of a family in Sacramento, California.

His punishment: the death penalty.

The arranged date of execution: _March 1, 2011._

* * *

"Jaymes Fosse," Near said, "is a very dangerous man. He was convicted because he certainly killed at least four people, but there were several other charges brought against him in the past, including rape and assault & battery."

"There is a good chance," L continued, "that he committed these other crimes that he was never found guilty of--"

"How high is that--?"

"Eighty-three percent. With that in mind, along with the fact that his arrest and conviction were completely carried out in secret, it provides an ideal situation that we can use to our advantage."

"So... what's the plan?" asked Matsuda.

"We give the Japanese media the cover story of a dangerous criminal," Near said.

L nodded. "The SPK members have been formulating a story for tonight's news of a man on the run for the murder of some Japanese businessmen in America. Judging by the sources that will be given on the broadcast, it will appear to be a true story that actually took place earlier this week. Jaymes Fosse, meanwhile, will be under surveillance."

"When the fake story is displayed on television," Near continued, "it will only be in Japan. If Kira _is_in Japan, as we so suspect, there is a very high likelihood that he will kill Jaymes Fosse."

"And by doing so, he will reveal his location to us," L finished.

He half expected the investigation team to complain that what they were doing was inhumane, but to his surprise they all nodded thoughtfully. _They've changed over the years_, he realized.

Aizawa was the first to speak up. "Makes perfect sense," he said. "Certainly you can't pull the same stunt you did with Lind L. Tailor, but this sounds like it'll work."

_At a 97% chance, anyway._

"What do we have to do?" asked Ide.

"More importantly," asked Gevanni to L and Near, "what will _you_ be doing?"

"We," Near said, "are still going to look for any strange patterns of death that could be useful in finding Kira's identity." He turned around in his chair. "Feel free to use one of the computers."

"And, um... what should we do about this, uh, Jaymes Fosse guy?" Yamamoto questioned.

"Just watch him," L said. "If he collapses from cardiac arrest within 4 hours after the news broadcast, it means there is a 99% likelihood Kira is in Japan."

* * *

**AN: ****_Alright, now for the super-big explanation/moment-of-truth/actually-plausible-reason-for-not-updating-very-often. From about chapter... nineteen (maybe?) to the end, the plot has to fit together perfectly or I won't be happy. Spell it with me: P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y. And being the perfectionist I am (plus slightly OCD at the same time), it HAS to work or I won't publish it. Now, that being said, for me to get it as good as I want to I basically have to write the whole thing out and then work out the kinks after all the chapters are done. So, contrary to any thoughts about me being a total lazy-ass for not finishing this thing, I don't put off updating because I'm lazy but because I want to make sure the darn thing WORKS. Actually, at the rate I'm going, I might not even update again until it IS finished (but hopefully that doesn't happen). So... basically what I'm saying is that if I don't update for a couple months, it's all planned. Don't freak out. AND I'M NOT ABANDONING ANYTHING. Promise: it would be really stupid to stop now because I already have literally about fifteen chapters worth of stuff written ahead._**

**And for those of you wondering, I think this thing will probably end up being, like, fifty chapters long. No joke. We are so NOT anywhere near the ending. (Oh God, "Near the ending"...? That was a terrible pun that was absolutely NOT intended...)**

**That, and... there's nothing for you to guess at for the next chapter... So if you just want to review so you can yell at me to "UPDATE PLZ!!!1!!11!" or whatever, then I suppose that's cool.**

**Love. Peace. L.**

**(Sorry Mickaroo, I just HAD to say that... :P)**

**CK**


	25. Luck

**AN: YESH! AN UPDATE!! **

**Erm. **

**Still not done writing it all out... but I'm a TON closer, and most of the whole "complicated-plot" section is done. Plus, my school's musical is done on Saturday, so I'll have a lot more free time after that! :D **

**Anyway, I figured, _What the heck! I was gonna wait until I was done, but I might as well post this._**

**Happy Saint Patty's Day! **

* * *

**March 1, 2011  
4:59 PM**

"Matsuda," Ide asked, nudging his friend on the arm, "are you _sure _Ryuzaki's plan is going to work?"

"Well... no," Matsuda admitted, "but some of his other plans haven't been completely foolproof either, and they turned out okay..."

L rolled his eyes. "Matsuda," he said from across the room, "if you want to get away with gossiping about someone, I would advise you to do it when the person in question _isn't_ nearby."

Matsuda's face began to resemble a tomato. "Ah... Sorry!"

Near paused in the construction of a LEGO tower on the desk. "Excuse me," he said pointedly. "The news program will be airing in forty seconds."

Aizawa frowned, and he clearly couldn't decide if Near had intentionally made the pun or not... (L was 76% sure he had.)

Then again, it wasn't something to joke about now: timing was _everything _when it came to this stunt. While it would air first in Japan, it was bound to be picked up by people in other countries in a ridiculously short amount of time. L had specifically requested to the other nations of the world that this story be banned by the official media, but where the internet was concerned that didn't guarantee anything. There was always the possibility that word of the terrible homicide committed by Jaymes Fosse could spread far more quickly than L had anticipated.

Granted, Matsuda had made a surprisingly observant point. _What if Light hadn't been watching television when Lind L. Tailor was broadcast in the Kanto region of the country?_ They very well could have shown the same message all over the world and never caught Kira. L was able to come up with good plans, but all of them seemed to depend on a fair amount of luck.

Somewhere, in the back of his head, L wondered if his luck would ever run out.

* * *

_"Tonight's top story comes from the United States, where an American man has murdered two Tokyo businessmen in California. The Sacramento authorities released today that Jaymes Fosse committed homicide yesterday when two prominent business figures were visiting to make a company deal. It appears that Fosse snuck into their hotel room and bludgeoned both Japanese men to death. Their names and Fosse's motives for the attack were not disclosed in the report._

_"And today, there was an important meeting between the prime minister of Great Britain and..."_

* * *

**5:02 PM**

"Ryuzaki! Fosse just collapsed in his cell!!" Aizawa shouted.

_After one and a half minutes??_ Kira _had_ to be in Japan of that was true.

L swivelled his chair across the room in record time over to the monitor that had been set up to display Fosse in the California prision. "Cardiac arrest?"

"Hell, from the look on his face...! It had to be!"

Prison paramedics that L had ordered be put on standby were rushing around on camera. Ten and three-fifths seconds later, one of them rushed back off, yelling something to someone off-screen.

"Near!" L shouted across the room. "Get the head of the prison on the phone!!"

Near's only reaction to the whole ordeal was to ignore his LEGO tower, widen his eyes just a bit, and comply to L's directions much faster than normal. Eight seconds later he had the head of the prison on the line. "He-hello?" the voice on the line asked nervously.

"This is L," Near said without emotion. "You have Jaymes Fosse under tight surveillance, correct?"

"Well, ye-yeah, I mean, you told me to--"

"Did he just collapse from a heart attack??" Near interrupted.

The director sounded startled. "Did he--?"

"_Did Jaymes Fosse just die of cardiac arrest??_"

"I..." He paused. "Just a moment, one of my staff members just called me--"

Near was put on hold.

Nobody else seemed to notice, but L could tell that everyone there--except for Near and himself--was holding their breath.

Twenty-seven seconds later the prison director picked up the phone once more. "Hello--L, are you still there?"

_He sounds shaken_, L observed.

"Yes," Near breathed. L then realized that Near _had_ actually been holding in a small breath as well. "Well?"

For a moment the line was quiet.

"...He's dead," the man said slowly, "and I believe it's safe to say that he died of a heart attack."

* * *

**AN: OMG KIRA'S IN JAPAN!! **

**...Hmm, I guess we knew that already though.**

**But still!! They're getting closer!! A lot closer, actually... Wow, I just realized that this chapter is kinda short. I hope that's okay, since it wasn't filler this time...**

**Okay, my brother is standing here poking me and telling me to tell you guys about his story, so I guess I will. It's called "Loose Ends" by Near the Sheep, and it is Super-Special-Awesome (SARCASM). Check it out if you have time. ^.^**

**Review? Plzkthnx. ;D**


	26. Closure

**AN: **

**IT IS FINISHED. **

***dies***

**No, that doesn't mean that I'm going to post all of it at once. Sorry. I'll update once a week, for the most part. Or maybe twice. I don't really know... it depends on how many reviews I get. (*hint*hint*)**

**But... wow. Now I'm going to have to find something else to write... maybe a wonderful fic for Sarah that I promised to write last October for a [super-super-super-late] b-day present? ^.^' **

**Oh, and about this chapter: TIME SKIP!! **

* * *

**May 16, 2011  
3:02 AM**

_Oh no. _

Oh no.

_Oh no oh no oh no _oh no.

_Light was in the basement._

ALIVE.

_Light was on the floor with a completely crazed grin on his face. And cackling like a maniac._

_And Light was holding a piece of paper in his hand._

_A piece of paper with a name--_HIS_ name--scrawled near the top._

_Oddly, as Light sat there on the floor at his feet, the aforementioned "he" didn't feel sad. Or angry._

_He was perfectly calm, and with a steady arm he raised his hand._

_Light's grin didn't disappear. "You _know_ that you're going to die anyway. I've written your name down: it's too late to save yourself."_

_He shrugged, like it was no big deal. "If that's the case," he said as he aimed the gun, "I'm taking you with me."_

_Only then did Light's smile begin to falter, but it was _beyond_ time for him to die for good._

_With perfect precision, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit it's mark in the center of--_

Matsuda woke up screaming.

* * *

**May 17, 2011  
6:32 PM**

Two months after the return of Kira, the newest owner of a Death Note was still out there, waiting to be caught.

This Kira was different then Light, Misa, Higuchi, and Mikami had all been in so many ways that Near and L couldn't even begin to count them all. While perhaps not a brilliant mind, he was able to remain completely anonymous, not leaving a single clue to his identity anywhere. Even one and a half months after beginning to kill, he was painstakingly good at hiding where he was. Had the investigators not used Jaymes Fosse to determine he was in Japan, it would have been nearly impossible to determine what part of the world he came from.

And actually, Jaymes Fosse wasn't the only person L had them publicly announce on the media. They managed to narrow it down to the Kanto region of Japan, and by giving some of the criminals aliases they were also able to determine that this Kira didn't have the shinigami eyes.

And that was right about where L felt the investigation began to get stuck.

Whoever Kira was, his main priority wasn't as oriented on making the world safe as it was protecting himself first. Light had been determined to get rid of L, and that meant he had to drop clues to his identity to lure his nemesis out of the shadows. It wouldn't have said much for L's credibility as a detective if he hadn't been able to catch him in the act.

Misa had been aiming to meet Light. She had practically guarenteed her capture after sending in the tapes to Sakura TV.

At Yotsuba, they had been much, much more careful in keeping themselves hidden, which is why it took several months to catch Higuchi. When he thought about it carefully, L was still rather amazed that it had taken two geniuses so long to find them out.

And now, with two geniuses working together again, it was still taking months and months to get anywhere in the case.

Aizawa walked in the door with a stack of papers. He acknowledged L and Near at the desk with a grunt as he set it down on a coffee table. "Finding anything today?" he asked halfheartedly.

Near shook his head.

Aizawa sighed. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I might leave early tonight."

"That's fine," L said as he took a bite from a piece of cake. "I think everyone else went home already... except for Matsuda-san, whom I believe is still at work in one of the other rooms."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "He just doesn't know when to give up."

"He's determined," L corrected. "He wants to catch Kira. Badly. It's a perfectly normal reaction for someone with his personality." He took another large bite out of his cake. "In fact," L lied, "I would probably do the same thing in his position."

Aizawa seemed to consider that for a moment before sighing. "It's not that I don't understand his motives, it's just that I can't quite wrap my head around it."

Near twirled his hair around with his finger. "Let Mr. Matsuda do as he wishes--as long as he doesn't attempt anything rash, let him be."

* * *

Matsuda, sitting at a desk a few rooms away from L and Near, was feeling really depressed.

As much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, it had been precisely 474 days after the Yellow Box Warehouse--he'd counted it all out on a calender. It had been more than a year. A lot more than a year, actually.

And he was _STILL_ having nightmares!

Matsuda just couldn't get over it.

Rather out of habit, he began tapping on the edge of the desk as he thought the situation over... One of his best friends had betrayed him, dammit! One of his best friends had been the very serial killer that Matsuda had dedicated his life to catching! So maybe it was kind of understandable that he hadn't gotten over the incident, but... still.

The whole thing was painful. And annoying.

It was also really, really embarrassing to wake your neighbors in the night with your screams.

Matsuda's fingers suddenly began to strum the desk harder as an idea struck him.

_Okay, I need closure. There are three ways I can think of to get fast closure: therapy, with the help of a friend, or by proving to yourself that your fears aren't real._

Therapy wasn't an option, as Matsuda was both underpaid and under oath about the Kira case. He could have the help of a friend... Like Yamamoto!--but he wasn't exactly willing to talk to anyone about the subject, and chances were that Yamamoto would freak out about it anyway.

So that left him option three.

But... how could he find closure all on his own?

* * *

**7:09 PM**

He gulped as he stood in front of the apartment building. Light's former apartment building.

Okay, so Matsuda shouldn't have really gone there. He was going to be in some serious trouble if L or Near found out, but good grief, this was the closest thing to closure he could think of!

He would ring the doorbell once. Someone other than Light or Misa would answer, and it would prove neither of them was alive. He would never come here again; if nobody was home, so be it. He'd just have to find closure some other way.

Alright. He was in front of the door now. Breathe in. Breathe out.

He rang the bell.

Five seconds passed, and nothing happened. Matsuda almost walked away.

Suddenly, the door opened, and something hit him on the side of the head. Hard.

"_OUCH!_" Matsuda automatically began cowering, but no more blows came.

"Goddamn salesman! Go _away_!!" The door slammed shut again.

_What the hell...?_

Matsuda was left sitting there with a painful bruise on his head. _Well, that definitely wasn't Misa, at least. And it couldn't have been Light, either; he died right in front of me. But..._ he had to admit... _even though that guy couldn't have been Light, they look really similar... at least, from the blur I saw of him--_

Well. So much for closure.

With a sigh, the detective picked himself up off the ground and began to shuffle away.

Until, that is, he heard the crunch of an apple and a disturbingly familiar voice to go along with it.

"Mmmm... if only he'd let me eat these inside... 'Ryuk, stop smacking your apples, you're too distracting!!' Bastard. I'm definitely writing his name down when he gets boring."

Matsuda, with his feet frozen to the ground, gulped. _Oh my GOD._

Slowly he edged around the corner towards the familiar voice. Not that he didn't know whose voice it was, but... he had to be _absolutely_ sure.

He took a peek. His eyes grew wide. "Oh _hell_," he mouthed to himself.

Ryuk the shinigami was sitting there, with his back turned to Matsuda, devouring a large crate of apples.

But that meant... The owner of the notebook was nearby??

_In the building??_

Without waiting for Ryuk to notice him, Matsuda took off running.

* * *

**AN: HOLY CRAP. Matsui saves the day again!**

**And yes, I thought about it and have determined that it's physically possible for Matsuda to see Ryuk. Except for Yamamoto and L, everyone on the investigation team has touched one of the notebooks Ryuk is/was attached to, and therefore they should definitely be able to see and hear him. It's in the rulebook. Honestly.**

**Somewhere along the line I got more than 100 favorites and alerts! Thanks you guys!! _Woohoo!! _:D **

**Now, hit the wonderful green button (that apparently nobody notices is green...) and say something!**


	27. Realistic

**AN: Ha ha ha ha... yeeeeaaaah, sorry for those of you that were freaking out about that last joke-chapter (which has been taken down now). I had to, because it was April Fools Day. ^.^' **

**This one's real! I absolutely promise!**

* * *

**May 17, 2011  
7:42 PM**

L glanced over his shoulder as Aizawa exited the room. "Take care, Aizawa-san."

The officer grunted as he put on his coat and headed out the door.

Near twisted a strand of his hair around his finger. "Ryuzaki, come look at this."

L took a sip of tea and swiveled his chair over to look at Near's computer monitor. "What is it?"

"I just found an interesting correlation: lately there have been many accidental deaths among petty criminals in a very specific area of the city."

L stuck his head very close to the screen and began to bite his thumb. "Ah! I see what you mean. And they've all died within the past one and a half months..."

Neither of them had to say the name out loud.

_Kira!!_

"What do you think we should do about this?" L asked Near out of curiosity.

"Surveillance. Maybe some undercover work," Near replied. "If I were to guess, based on this information, there is a 98% chance that Kira is actually within the immediate area--"

"Which is definitely a possibility to look into," L finished, a small smirk on his face. "My thoughts exactly."

Near nodded before turning back to the monitor. "It's interesting... This building, here--" he pointed to the map on the screen, "--is coincidentally the very building where--"

"_RYUZAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!_"

L tried not to roll his eyes. _What on earth is he so excited about?_"In here, Matsuda-san!" he calmly shouted back. L took another sip of tea, finishing his cup.

Matsuda came rushing in, looking rather winded. "_You might not believe me--_" breath, "_--but I was just downtown--_" breath, "_--and I saw--saw--a shinigami!!_"

"..."

"..."

"..."

L only raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"_Really!!_"

The statement failed to grasp L's interest. That, and it didn't logically make sense. "Matsuda-san, did it perhaps occur to you that one cannot see a god of death unless the person in question has touched it's notebook?"

"_NO! _Ryuzaki, you're missing the point!! This was _RYUK_, the shinigami attached to the notebook we had at headquarters and _the one that killed Light at the Yellowbox warehouse!!_"

L couldn't think of a good retort to that.

"AND, technically we DID touch that notebook, so it SHOULD possible for all of us in the taskforce and SPK to see him!!" Matsuda finished with a big smirk on his face.

_...Well._

"He has my attention," commented Near.

L bit his thumb. "Alright," he allowed, "where did you see this shinigami?"

Matsuda's smirk immediately turned into a grimace. "Ha ha... About that... It's, erm, kind of a long story."

* * *

"...So then I came running back here to tell you guys as quickly as I could," Matsuda finished all in a rush.

Near didn't say a word. He turned to L.

L glanced at Near.

Matsuda began sweating.

_Please believe me... Pleeeeeeease believe me...!_

"I suppose it makes sense..." Near slowly allowed.

_Yesss!!_

"...but I don't think that the current Kira could actually be living in the same building that Light and Misa once did," he said. "That much is too coincidental."

"Huh?? But Near," Matsuda complained, "that means we have nothing to go on!! Can't we at least try to see if the guy living there now is Kira??"

Near firmly shook his head. "No, Mr. Matsuda, we cannot; it would be a waste of energy and--"

"Stop."

It wasn't said in a loud voice, with force or agitation. On the contrary: L had mumbled it so the command had been barely audible. Matsuda noticed only then that L had been staring off into space for several minutes.

"...Ryuzaki?" he asked tentatively.

"Near," L said, "I feel that you are probably right about the situation. The chance of such a coincidence occurring is impossibly small, and therefore has no justification."

_Aww man! _Matsuda's shoulders slumped.

"But."

Matsuda perked up again. "But what??" he asked, perhaps a bit too quickly.

L glanced at Matsuda, then moved his eyes back to Near. "It just occurred to me that such a small chance is impossible only if you were completely, 100% right about the notebooks owned by the previous Kiras."

...It was official: Matsuda was lost.

Near's expression was blank, but if Matsuda were to guess, he would say it was somehow more blank than normal. Rather like he was lost as well...

"What did you do with the two notebooks at the Yellowbox Warehouse?" L gently prodded.

"I burned them," Near responded instantly.

"Did you?" L asked.

"Yes." Another instantaneous response.

L paused. "...Did you?" he asked again, softer.

Near was about to respond--presumably with "yes" again--but suddenly stopped. Over the course of a few seconds, his expression changed completely.

For the first time that Matsuda had ever seen, the boy looked positively shocked.

"...NO! I don't know that we burned the real notebooks!"

"_What?_" asked Matsuda. "Of course we burned the notebooks!!"

"No," Near responded, "we burned _one _of the Death Notes. One of them was real, but the other..." He trailed off midsentence.

Suddenly Matsuda got it too. "W-we _never tested them..._" he muttered.

"And that," L said, "is the flaw. One can reasonably assume that if one of those two notebooks was a fake, it was probably--"

"The one Mikami used!" Matsuda shouted.

Near frowned. "No, it couldn't have been that one: had Light thought to replace that one before I stole it, he certainly could have prevented his own downfall and death in the process..."

"Which means the Death Note at headquarters," L concluded, "had to be the one that was switched."

_Well, Light had had full access to it... _Matsuda wanted to slap himself for not even thinking about that earlier. Then, he realized something else.

"L-Light told us--right before he tried to kill Near--that he'd replaced the notebook at headquarters," Matsuda thought out loud, "We all thought he was bluffing to buy time, but maybe..."

L was clearly thinking hard. "Yes... Light could have been lying about that, but we don't know. It rather looks as though he wasn't... So he took the Death Note that had been at headquarters and hid it."

"...In his apartment!!" Matsuda shouted excitedly.

"Yes, probably," said Near, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Which means," L concluded, "that there is a 97% chance that the person living there now... is Kira."

* * *

**AN: Ah, so the truth FINALLY comes out! **

**Even more of the truth is coming in the next chapter... :P **

**In other odd news, I now have a new, totally random poll on my profile, inspired by xXxMasqueradexXx and her total freak-out reaction to a very specific YouTube video in which Madonna is cosplaying someone from Death Note**** (Honestly, I'm not kidding). XD Check it out! **

**Review? Maybe I'll update faster... *hint hint***


	28. Animal Crackers

**AN: I would have posted this yesterday, but the internet was being incredibly dumb at my house because it kept raining and therefore didn't get a signal. D: **

**Virtual cookie to anyone that knows where the name of the newest Kira comes from! (And DON'T CHEAT BY LOOKING IT UP!! No guessing if you're going to go around Googling it!!)**

* * *

**May 17, 2011**  
**8:38 PM**

"Name?" L asked. He popped a bear-shaped animal cracker into his mouth.

"Mamoru Miyano," Matsuda replied, reading off the computer screen.

A tiger. "Age?"

"Turning thirty in July."

An elephant. "Occupation?"

"Banker."

"Points of interest?" _This is a... hmm... _L couldn't tell what odd animal the cracker was supposed to be.

"Apparently he stalked Misa-Misa at some point."

L paused in chewing his mystery animal when Matsuda said that.

"He did... What?" Near asked, with just a hint of some obscure emotion in his normally monotone voice.

"He did! But she filed a court restraining order against him, so he had to stop..." Matsuda trailed off.

L smirked slightly. "Which partially explains why he lives in that apartment... Interesting..." Mmm, bison.

"Oh, and get this," Matsuda continued, "He has severe paranoia, and has been hospitalized in the past for believing and doing... crazy things."

L paused again with the cracker halfway to his mouth. "..._'Crazy things.'_"

"Yeah..."

"I'm afraid," Near said, frowning, "that you'll have to be a bit more specific than that."

"Oh... Well, apparently he has a phobia of getting... what the hell? He's afraid of getting mauled by traveling salesmen--hey, that explains why he almost killed me! Oh, sorry... he's a serious hypochondriac that seems to overreact when faced with a stressful situation... he's been known to abuse alcohol in a few situations... and he has a serious fear of being stalked... _for starters_. The list gets quite long..."

L raised an eyebrow as he ate a lion-shaped cracker. "He fears stalkers, yet _he _stalked Amane."

Matsuda frowned. "...Pretty much..."

_Hypocrite._

"So this is our major Kira suspect," Near murmured.

L nodded. In went a giraffe. "Is there a photograph of Miyano in that file, Matsuda-san?"

"Yeah, from one of his 'check-ins' into the local psychiatric ward... He's definitely the guy that assaulted me."

"May I...?" L ate a cat-shaped cracker.

"Oh! Sure!" Matsuda instantly scooted his chair over, giving L enough room to comfortably look at the screen.

L glanced at the photo and was instantly reminded of Light. Mamoru Miyano and Light Yagami were physically alike in several ways: they were both tall, relatively built, thin, brunette, and shared similar bone structure in their faces. After three-eighths of a second, however, L could clearly tell that it was indeed not a picture of Light. Mentally he began to compile a list of physical differences between the two.

"...He looks kind of like Light, doesn't he?" Matsuda muttered.

Slowly L shook his head. "Not to me he doesn't."

"...Oh..."

L turned away and ate another mystery animal. "But regardless, he is almost definitely Kira, judging by this profile."

Out of the corner of his eye, L noticed Matsuda doing a small victory dance.

"What should we do to find proof?" Near asked. "Should we just search his apartment for the Death Note or find some way for him to confess to being Kira?"

"Getting a confession out of him is extremely unlikely," L observed as he ate a rhinoceros. He paused as an idea crossed his mind. "Matsuda-san, you should go home now; Near and I will come up with a plan to corner Miyano tonight."

"Oh, okay." Matsuda looked slightly disappointed, but he hurried out of the room and presumably left the building.

Near turned to L. "You already have an idea, don't you?"

L shrugged and ate a panda cracker. "Only a very vague one."

Near only looked at him with blank eyes. "...What sort of idea?"

"We stalk him."

Near didn't let it show on his face, but it was obvious to L that what he'd just said wasn't making sense to his successor.

"...We stalk him...?" It sounded almost like a question the way Near repeated it.

L picked out a mystery animal cracker and eyed it carefully. "Exactly. We use his apparent phobias to our advantage and catch him in the act. We send someone to follow him; he might not notice, in which case we would be able to watch him closely, but if he _does_ notice, it would cause him to panic and act without rationally thinking. If we do it right, he would never even know that he was tricked into revealing that he was Kira to us."

Near thought it over and slowly nodded. "I understand what you're saying... You used a similar method to catch Higuchi as the third Kira and reveal his Death Note, correct?"

"Yes."

L snapped the mystery cracker in half.

_Mamoru Miyano, it doesn't look as though it will be long until your judgement day arrives._

"There's just one potential problem I can think of," Near said. "If any of us follow Miyano, the shinigami Ryuk could recognize us and might reveal that a member of the team responsible for catching Kira is watching his every move."

L briefly considered this as he munched on a cracker. "True. He met all the members of the SPK in the Yellowbox Warehouse and lived with the task force while he was attached to the Death Note at their headquarters... And it would be foolish of me to assume that he doesn't know my identity..."

Which left one person that was officially on the investigation team.

Near apparently reached the same conclusion L did at about the same time. They both glanced at each other with mildly grim expressions.

L hoped that Yamamoto hadn't picked up any of Matsuda's unpredictability.

* * *

**AN: Hooray for Yamamoto!! Finally he has a decent/kinda-important role in the story!!**

**LOL, the whole animal crackers thing was inspired by an afternoon of hanging out with Nikki. We were both eating them out of the box, and we kept going,  
"Ooh, a kitty!"  
"Looks more like a horse..."  
"Whatever it is, I'm eating it. Is that a hippo?"  
"I think so."  
"Oops, I just broke it's foot off..."  
"What kind of animal is THIS supposed to be?"  
"_Duh_, Nikki, _it's a frigging plottypus_!"  
*pause*****  
"You stole that from Quiet, didn't you??"  
"...Maybe."**

**Okay, a good portion of you guys hate Light, right? Last night I posted a one-shot involving him, an apple, a mirror, and a lot of screaming. (Muahaha...) Check it out? (*puppy eyes*)**

**Review, pwetty pwease? Even if it's only to guess where I got the new Kira's name from...**


	29. Stalker

**AN: I figured it was about time to stick this chapter in, finally confirming what has basically been up in the air until now.**

* * *

**May 22, 2011**  
**7:28 AM **

Mamoru Miyano was a busy man.

At 6 AM sharp, his alarm clock went off. At 6:20 he stepped out of the shower and got dressed. At 6:35 he ate breakfast, and by 6:45 he was out the door of his apartment for the hour-long commute to his banking job. Every day for the past few years he'd kept up the façade of a normal man living a normal life.

Frankly, finding the Death Note had been both a blessing and a curse.

Before the notebook had come into his life, he'd been a bit... 'unstable,' as his doctors had put it. Powerless. He found power in his routine and compulsive disorders that nobody else understood, and when anyone threatened to break his schedule he lashed out. It was natural for him; apparently it wasn't natural for a normal human being.

Now, he was anything but powerless. With the flick of a wrist, he could kill anyone that displeased him. It was an eerily amazing feeling, knowing you had that kind of control and the ability to use it. Use it he did: the world's crime rate had dipped to the lowest it had ever been in history because of him.

Interestingly enough, though, he had no desire to use it for his own personal gain. If he used the notebook to kill people he knew directly, it would be a sure sign that something was unusual. That is, assuming L was really that good of a detective... but Miyano was not a completely stupid man. He knew better than to take that chance.

He knew better than to gamble his own life in this game, because chances were that he would lose.

* * *

"Hey, Mamie."

Miyano, on the subway, did his best to ignore the shinigami that followed him constantly. He felt his eyebrow twitch as Ryuk completely butchered his given name in an attempt to make it more personal.

It didn't work.

"Mamie, I _know_ you can hear me..."

Or perhaps the shinigami just did it to be annoying? That could very well be: it wasn't very happy that it had to eat it's apples outside, and being annoying when Miyano had to listen was a damn good way to get back at him.

"_Maaaaaaamieeeeee..._"

Finally Miyano gave in. "What?" he muttered under his breath.

"What do you call a human that follows another human around for kicks?"

_What the hell does _that_ mean?_ Miyano glanced around the subway. Nobody was looking at him, and he figured it would be okay to discreetly answer the shinigami's question. "A stalker?" he murmured, still annoyed by the shinigami. "Why?"

"Huh? Oh, because I think you have one."

_I HAVE A STALKER?? _Miyano's life practically flashed before his eyes. "_What?_" he squeaked in a low voice.

"Um, yeah." Ryuk scratched the top of his head and pointed to a guy a couple seats away. "See that dude in the suit over there? He's been following you for a few days now. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but it got a little obvious he's stalking you when he followed you in the grocery store the other night... It's getting really annoying..."

Miyano didn't listen to the rest of what Ryuk had to say. He was looking at the man the shinigami said had been following him. With a sickening feeling, he noticed that the man kept nervously glancing at him every couple minutes.

_If he's really a stalker, I have to get rid of him. I _have_ to get rid of him. __How do you ditch a stalker?_

He didn't know. But he would find out, because otherwise it would slowly drive him insane.

* * *

**AN: I have absolutely no idea what a psycho person would think in a situation like this, because that's kinda the intent here... He's not exactly 100% right in the head. Did I do okay? **

**A couple of random notes:**

**1.) On my Tumblr account (the link to that is on my profile), some totally random person--and I really do mean "totally random person"--apparently noted a photo I'd put up... yeah, is that anyone from this website? Anyone at all...?  
2.) That poll is still up! Go vote plz! (Although if you were going to vote, you've probably done so already. LOL.)  
3.) ****And... I can't think of any more witty ways to ask for reviews. If you have any ideas (good, bad, or ugly alike), please submit them by clicking on the button centered below. XP **


	30. Solution

**AN: Made it into the thirties!! Whoooo!! :D There's not that much left to post, thank goodness! Only about... oh... _twenty more_... erm, never mind. **

**Yeah, that last chapter was kinda boring, I know. Believe me, something actually happens in this one. **

* * *

**May 28, 2011**  
**5:45 PM **

For the next week, Miyano did the best that he could to ignore the man following him on the train.

The guy was fairly tall, with messy black hair and glasses. He was always dressed in a business suit whenever Miyano saw him, probably to disguise the fact that he apparently had no life other than following people--_HIM_--around. Whenever he thought nobody was looking, he would sneak glances at Miyano... which was kind of weird. They weren't really menacing or, God _forbid_, perverted; they were just observant, nervous looks in his direction.

That didn't mean Miyano wasn't slowly losing his sanity.

Over the past few days he'd come up with as many ways he could ditch this guy that he could think of. But there were problems with all of them: they didn't work, they required a change in his routine, or they were too risky to pull off. The best one he could think of was to kill the guy with the Death Note (which was, for him, an obvious solution), but the _damn _shinigami following him around refused to intervene, and he wasn't about to make the eye trade just to learn the guy's name. He was obsessive, compulsive, and a bit eccentric at times, but he wasn't a complete moron. Half his life wasn't worth getting rid of a _stalker_.

But... what if it _was_?

His nails were gone: he'd bitten them all off due to his anxiety. He'd barely slept. Miyano had even convinced himself that his hair was turning gray and beginning to fall out.

The stalker glanced in his direction, and Miyano unintentionally held his briefcase a little bit tighter.

_I need a drink._

_I need a plan._

_Hell, I just need a name!!_

...

Or did he?

* * *

"I'm outside his apartment again," Yamamoto said on his cellphone. Miyano had gotten off the train and walked home, apparently without noticing Yamamoto even once. Said police officer sighed. "Nothing happened today, either. _Again_."

"I see," said Ryuzaki on the other end of the line. As always, Yamamoto was having issues trying to distinguish any sort of emotion in his voice. If he were to guess though, he'd say Ryuzaki was almost disappointed. "Nothing unusual at all?"

Yamamoto shook his head, then realized that there wasn't even the slightest bit of a chance that Ryuzaki could know he was doing such an action over the phone. "Nah," he said aloud. "Same old, same old. He got up, went to work, and he came home." He kicked a pebble as he walked slowly down the street towards the place where Aizawa was due to pick him up.

"...Alright then." Ryuzaki paused, then added, "We probably need to--"

_CRACK._

The air around him was split with a gunshot, and Yamamoto never got the chance to learn what Ryuzaki would have said.

* * *

"Take that, you _bastard_," Miyano slurred.

He stumbled away from the window after the man he referred to as a "stalker" fell down bleeding on the sidewalk. With some difficulty he tossed his gun aside and managed to sit at his kitchen table.

Ryuk didn't stick around to watch him drink another shot of scotch. With a bemused expression, he passed through the wall into Miyano's bedroom.

He wasn't entirely used to the human world, but he knew when someone had just screwed himself over, and that was exactly what this guy had just done to himself. _The cops are gonna be all over this..._Ryuk doubted Miyano would even get to spend another night outside of a jail cell.

When he thought about it, it wasn't _totally _unexpected for for the shinigami. Miyano was kind of weird and OCD and all, and the dumbass had been so nervous about being followed for a week that he'd gotten out the alcohol. Then... POOF. Before Ryuk knew what was going to happen, Miyano had pulled a gun out of his closet and shot at the stalker--a Masato Yamamoto, as the eyes revealed--from his living room window. It kind of surprised Ryuk, because the only instances he'd ever personally seen like this took place on daytime television, but he also found it oddly hilarious and depressing.

Hilarious because... well, he _always_ got a kick out of this kind of stuff. Humans fighting and getting hurt were pretty amusing most of the time.

Depressing because he was about to head back to the shinigami realm again. If Miyano was put in prison, Ryuk sure as hell wouldn't sit around and wait for the idiot to die.

Ryuk pulled out his Death Note and a small pen, but before doing anything he briefly reconsidered. There _was_a small chance Miyano would get away from the police...

After a moment or two, he put the pen away.

_Mamie's safe enough... for the moment._

He would die eventually. Ryuk knew that from his experience with Light.

The only question left to ask was: how long was he gonna wait until he killed him?

* * *

**AN: Holy _sonofagun_! (No pun intended...) **

**Yes, I did just frigging do that.**

**And yes, like I said before: so NOT near the end, although it probably looks like it. Looks can be deceiving, people. o.O**

**Reviews are love! And they mean updates!**


	31. Failure?

**AN: Hey, I just realized I never told you guys where that name came from! Basically everyone that guessed got it right: Mamoru Miyano is the name of Light's Japanese voice actor/seiyu! (And ha ha, I just found a picture of him... he looks nothing like Light at all... -.-')**

**Virtual cookies for everyone! **

**

* * *

**

**May 28, 2011**  
**5:52 PM **

After a few moments, the gun disappeared from the window.

Yamamoto breathed a sigh of relief. There was a strange combination of pain and numbness in his shoulder, and it wouldn't have surprised him if he'd actually been hit there by the single bullet.

But at least he was alive. And he hadn't even been disconnected from Ryuzaki.

"_Did you hear that??_" he whispered into his cellphone.

"Most definitely," Ryuzaki replied. Annoyingly, he sounded as calm as ever. "What was that, a gunshot?"

Yamamoto tried to wiggle into a fairly more comfortable position on the ground while trying to appear still. It didn't work: it just caused some more pain in his shoulder. "Um, yeah. That-that was a gunshot."

Ryuzaki's voice still seemed quite composed when he responded, "What are you doing now?"

"Just, um... lying here?" It sounded like a question the way Yamamoto said it.

"Just..." For once the great detective seemed almost confused. "You're doing what?"

"I'm just lying on the ground, because I figured he'd stop shooting if I played dead!" Yamamoto hissed.

Ryuzaki's voice tone went back to bored again. "I see... Are you hurt?"

"My shoulder is probably bleeding--" Yamamoto glanced to his left and saw red. "--No, scratch that. I'm _definitely_ bleeding, but, um, I don't think it's life-threatening."

"Who shot at you?"

It was a complete change of topic, but Yamamoto was ready. He glanced at the window of the apartment he'd seen the gun appear out of.

"Miyano. _Definitely_Miyano."

* * *

**6:14 PM**

Aizawa spent the next half an hour running around making phone calls to all the NPA and local law enforcement personnel, convincing them to let the investigation team handle the situation.

"Yes, I understand it's not a part of our department... yes, but we need--what? No, that's completely irrelevant..."

L sat in his chair stirring his tea around, deep in thought.

_I didn't think he would lose his mind so much as to put anyone in danger... the likelihood was at 1.7% for goodness sakes! But now it may be difficult to pin him as Kira..._

Near lightly touched his sleeve. "We might have to send Miyano to prison for something _other_ than being Kira, but he will be caught," he said, reading L's mind.

"I know," L mumbled, "but that doesn't mean it won't be a pain to do anyhow."

If he were being honest with himself, he knew that booking Miyano for shooting Yamamoto as a "pain to do" wasn't exactly what was bugging him.

He _hated_ Kira.

To not catch Kira in the act would be, for him, a form of failure.

And L never, _ever_ failed.

He was going to send Kira to die for being Kira, and he wouldn't settle for anything less.

L's train of thought was interrupted when the SPK and other investigation team members came in with Yamamoto. They had all disguised themselves as emergency dispatchers so they could safely load Yamamoto's "dead" body into an ambulance. Said officer looked rather dazed, and he was holding a gauze of some kind to his left shoulder, but otherwise he appeared to be unharmed.

"Yamamoto-san," L greeted him, "are you alright?"

Yamamoto shrugged but still looked a bit unnerved. "More or less. At least I'm not, um, dead or in the hospital..."

"True." L took a sip of his tea. "If you go down to the basement, I'm sure Mido-san would gladly help wrap your shoulder." Without waiting for any other invitation, Yamamoto nodded and went straight down the stairwell.

"Now," Near said, "in no way are we glad that Mr. Yamamoto was shot at, but it now provides us an acceptable excuse to arrest Miyano and search his apartment for a Death Note."

Aizawa, who had been arguing with someone in a different branch of the police, got off the phone. "I'm listening."

"Yeah!" Matsuda shouted with a bit too much enthusiasm.

L shot him a glance before speaking. "All of you--perhaps even Yamamoto-san--are going to his apartment to treat this with standard protocol for this sort of incident," he said. "He obviously has a gun, so bulletproof vests and helmets are necessary."

"It must be stressed that, no matter what, do not remove your helmet," Near emphasized. "There is a possibility that Miyano may have made the eye trade or convinced his shinigami to kill anyone entering the premise."

"NPA officers," L said, "you will be the ones making the arrest. SPK members, you will stay in the vehicle as backup if needed."

The various members of the group nodded.

"Alright," Aizawa said. "Let's do it."

* * *

**6:45 PM**

In record time, the van made it down to Mamoru Miyano's apartment complex. Immediately after stopping, five men jumped out and moved into the building.

Running up the steps, they made it to Miyano's front door. Without knocking, Mogi kicked the door down and they all rushed in. "Split up and search for him!" Aizawa ordered.

They all headed in seperate directions. Two minutes later, they had all congregated in the front entryway again.

"I didn't find him," Ide admitted.

"I don't think he's, um, here at all," Yamamoto said glumly. Against Aizawa's suggestion, he'd come after all to catch Miyano.

"Nothing," Mogi said.

Aizawa sighed. "I couldn't--" Suddenly he stopped midsentence and glanced around the group. _Mogi, Ide, Yamamoto..._"Where's Matsuda??"

The other three men whirled their heads around to make sure he really wasn't there. "Oh _crap_!" Yamamoto squeaked.

"I think he went to check out the bedroom," Ide said.

Aizawa was already moving. Without attempting to be at all quiet, he shoved the door to the bedroom open. "Matsuda, are you--??"

He stopped midsentence with wide eyes.

Upon seeing what Matsuda was staring at on the floor, he deliberately took off his helmet.

"Oh, _hell!_"

* * *

**AN: Cannot emphasize enough how NOT close to the end of the fic we are.**

**...Well? ****Hit the review button (that apparently is no longer green) and say something!**


	32. Surrender

**AN****: ****Some of you might want to get a box of tissues. Or bake a cake... It kinda depends. **

**Because, if I might quote my friend Masq from an IM, this chapter is like this: JOSFJLSKNFLKAHS OPGH;JNLHLANFSL; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA**

**That was her reaction to _hearing_ the extremely basic plotline for this chapter. Not reading: HEARING. ****_Yeeeeeah._ And apparently her brain was simultaneously broken.**

**I hope it's as... erm... as _reaction-inducing _as it sounds. -.-'**

* * *

**May 28, 2011 **  
**6:48 PM**

"_God dammit!!_" Aizawa cursed. "You have to be kidding!!"

It wasn't Matsuda he was swearing at: the officer was just sittign on his knees looking blankly at the form next to him.

Mamoru Miyano, however...

Their main Kira suspect was lying face up on his bedroom floor, staring at the ceiling with eyes that would never close, forever frozen in horror.

_Clearly_ he'd known he was going to die.

Matsuda finally seemed to snap out of the shock he appeared to have been stuck in. Right as the other investigation team members came running in, he tried to stop them. "Get back, you guys!!" he yelled. "I can help!! _I know CPR!!_"

There was a brief pause where nobody moved.

"...Matsuda..." Mogi put his hand on Matsuda's shoulder. "It's no use. He's definitely dead."

"But-but-but he CAN'T be dead!! _This guy is the only link we have to catching Kira!!_" Matsuda groaned. Most of them knew how he felt: the prospect of starting from scratch wasn't very motivating.

"Matsuda," Yamamoto said in a surprisingly calm voice, "the best thing we can do now is look around this place for a Death Note."

"And," Aizawa said, "we should call L and try to come up with another plan."

"That, and maybe we should call in the CSIs," Ide added.

Aizawa nodded in agreement as he got out his cellphone and began dialing.

* * *

**6:49 PM**

"Well?" asked Near when he picked up the phone.

"We have a problem..." Aizawa seemed unsure of what to say.

"What's the matter?" Near asked with a frown. L paused in eating something to give his successor a curious look.

After a few seconds of silence, Aizawa responded. "Mamoru Miyano is dead."

For a moment, Near couldn't think of anything to say in response. _Dead?? By Kira?!_ "A heart attack?" he asked, still somewhat calm.

"It looks that way."

_Oh no._ Near considered how to reply. "Mr. Aizawa," he said slowly, "it looks as though the Death Note must have changed hands."

L, who could hear their conversation, seemed to be deep in thought. "Wait a moment... Near, don't jump to conclusions."

Near frowned and turned away from the microphone.

"Think," L continued, "for just a moment: what are the odds that a person would pick up a Death Note, read the instructions, instantly believe in it's powers, and kill the former owner on the spot?"

Near's frown deepened as he thought the scenario over. "I would say the chance of that occurring is extremely small... about a hundredth of a percent?"

"Exactly," L replied. "Maybe two-hundredths of a percent at the most... But for the scenario you just described to work, that is essentially what would have had to have happened."

Near's eyes widened as he understood what L was saying. _If a person didn't kill Miyano, then..._ One and a half seconds later he got what L was probably hinting at. "So... the only other rational possibility would involve the shinigami attached to the notebook... correct?"

L nodded. "Correct. You told me yourself that the shinigami Ryuk at the Yellowbox Warehouse killed Light to spare himself from boredom: it's very likely that he knew Miyano would be put in prison for being Kira, and he simply didn't want to be bored this time either."

Near slowly nodded and turned back to the microphone. _Yes... that has to be it... _"Everyone," he said as he addressed the investigators, "it's very likely that the shiniga--"

* * *

And then, in the course of only a split-second... his heart stopped beating.

* * *

"...Near? Near??"

He couldn't feel anything real after that; his body seemed to be stuck in a fog.

He could hardly hear.

He could only just see.

He could barely even _think_.

He was only aware of the horrible, flesh-ripping pain in his chest that only a heart attack could bring.

_A... a heart attack...?_

Near blinked.

He was... falling. In slow motion, he slid off his chair and hit the ground. It seemed so _unreal_ that he barely even realized it was happening at all.

_Blink._

L was diving for him, trying to figure out why on _earth_ his successor had just fallen off his chair. Midway through his slow fall, L's eyes got impossibly wide as he apparently figured out what was happening.

"_NEAR!!_"

Near blinked, in slow motion again.

He couldn't feel L there, although he knew that the detective was holding on to him as though it could save him. Now L was leaning over him, rapidly saying something that Near couldn't hear. He realized he should try to say something, anything, before he finally died.

But it was so _hard_...

He was almost gone.

There was only one thing that he could think as he lay there on the floor.

"L..." he whispered weakly.

"I hope... I made... you... _proud_."

With a final shudder, Near closed his eyes and surrendered to death.

* * *

**AN: Nikki's most favorite chapter ever... Holy crap... _I can't believe I actually did that_...**

**(Do I still have to beg for your reactions at this point?)**


	33. After

**May 28, 2011**  
**6:50 PM**

_Near wouldn't die._

No.

_He isn't dead._

No.

_He _can't_ be dead._

No.

_No no no no no no no no no _NO_!_

_..._

_A heart attack._

With a sense of desperation, L grasped Near's thin wrist and searched for a pulse.

There wasn't one.

...His _neck_!!

No sign of life.

Was he breathing??

_CPR!!_

Nothing happened.

Near still didn't move.

...

L sat back, completely shocked at what had just happened.

_Near... is... dead..._

_DEAD._

L wanted to sit there on the floor and feel helpless, but he forced himself to stand and reach for the microphone. The investigation team was still connected on the phone, and he couldn't leave them hanging for instructions. "Aizawa," he said with a voice even more monotone than it normally was, "have the crime scene technicians examine Mamoru Miyano's apartment for anything relevant to the investigation. Come back here whenever they finish and tell me what you've found." He hung up without waiting for Aizawa to respond.

L collapsed and, automatically, buried his head in his hands.

Near was gone.

_GONE._

He'd felt a large sense of loss when he'd learned of Mail's and Miheal's deaths, but they hadn't been _in front of him _when they'd died. They hadn't been working next to him, healthy one moment and _dead_ the next.

...

_"I hope I made you proud."_

_..._

All three of his planned successors were gone, because of Kira.

The thought was nearly incomprehensible.

And the worst part was: _none of them were ever coming back. _

...

L's head snapped up.

_Wait a minute._

In the basement of the very buidling he was standing in, there was a doctor. And while this doctor was good at treating concussions and mending people up, he specialized in bringing them back from the dead.

Specifically heart attack victims of Kira.

L slowly turned back to Near, lying dead on the hard floor.

At least one of his three heirs had chosen the right place to die.

As gently as L could, he picked up Near's frail body and went to the elevator. Seconds later, the doors shut tightly behind him and he hit a button on the wall.

B for basement.

Slowly they lurched downward, and L silently hoped that Mido wasn't busy at that moment.

* * *

**AN:**

_**ATTENTION!  
I**_**_ absolutely did not have Near die JUST for kicks and giggles! Promise! Think about the circumstances for a minute and see if you can figure out what the heck is going on!_**

**...OKAY, fangirls, stop freaking out on me! ****I**** don't remember who sent in that review, but they were 100% right about L dragging the "Staypuft detective" down to the basement. ****(There were other people that suggested that of course, but that was the one I specifically remember... if only because I've never heard anyone call Near a marshmellow before. No pun intended, in case you found one.)**

**Review? If only to get me to update? ^^**


	34. In The Elevator

**AN: Well, for those of you that couldn't piece it together (which was everybody save about two of you, no offense), this whole chapter is like a _giant_ hint.**

**

* * *

**  
**May 28, 2011  
6:52 PM**

There are, supposedly, five steps in the grieving process.

The second one, coming after denial, is anger.

And once L had a plan and was by himself in the elevator, he found that--indeed--he was undeniably angry.

In a rare display of emotion, he pounded his fist against the solid steel wall of the elevator.

"Damn you, Kira!!" he senselessly repeated. "Damn you, damn you,_ damn you to_--!!"

_Wait._

A sudden thought stopped his fist in midair. Slowly and with great care, he lowered and unclenched his fist.

...

All of ten seconds ago, he hadn't been thinking clearly. All of twenty seconds ago, he had been practically traumatized.

All of forty seconds ago, Near had been alive.

_And now, Near is dead._

But...

_How?_

How was he dead?? It wasn't a matter of checking his pulse and seeing he wasn't alive by now; that much was obvious. It was more a matter of what had killed him.

L knew what the cause of Near's death was.

_A heart attack._

_Kira_, of course.

But... it was_ impossible!_

Whoever Kira was, the chance of him finding out about Near was so small that the possibility was almost nonexistent. Not only that, but the chances of finding out Near's name, Nate River, was so incredibly small that it _literally didn't exist_.

So _how??_

L's mind raced to come up with all the possible scenarios.

..._Through the use of shinigami eyes?_Maybe. Near was never photographed, though, and Mamoru Miyano hadn't had the shinigami eyes in the first place.

_Could a shinigami killed him?_Perhaps, but the chances of a God of Death deciding to kill him were not big at all. Even Ryuk, the shinigami that was supposedly following Miyano around, wouldn't have killed Near: he hadn't bothered at the Yellowbox warehouse, after all.

The other possibility was that the holder of the Death Note--whoever that might be--had found out Near's name in some other manner.

Only eight people in the entire world knew Near's name: L, Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, Aizawa, Matsuda, Ide, and Mogi.

All eight of those people would never, ever betray him.

Or would they??

L shook his head, as if to shake that very thought from his mind. _No, they wouldn't._ L had seen the fire in their eyes when the name "Kira" was ever mentioned. None of them would stoop so low as to sell out Near to the man they'd vowed to catch.

...So _one of them_ had to be the new Kira??

But that was ridiculous!! The probability of that was so low it wasn't even worth considering.

But there weren't any other options.

_Somehow_, a human had gained a Death Note and the knowledge of Nate River's existence.

And L couldn't deduce how it had happened.

_...Damn you Kira!_

* * *

All of this passed through L's mind over a time period of fourteen seconds, and his last thought came to mind right as the elevator door slid open.

L gently picked Near up again and stepped out of the elevator. "Mido-san!!" he called.

"Ryuzaki?" The muffled voice came from around the corner. Moments later the doctor appeared. "Ryuzaki, what's--" Mido stopped mid-stride as he got a good glimpse at L. "Oh my God, did Near pass out??"

L swallowed and didn't look the doctor in the eye. "No, I'm afraid he's... _dead_."

Mido's eyes grew to twice their normal size. "_Dead??_" he whispered, apparently horrified.

L nodded.

For a moment, Mido didn't speak. With soft footsteps, he moved toward L. "Let me see."

L stepped back in retaliation, not wanting to let go of Near. "Mido-san, I'm 100% sure Near is--"

"_Ryuzaki._" Somehow the doctor's voice calmed L. "Just let me examine him."

Slowly L nodded. Mido carefully took Near's body into his arms as though he were a sleeping child. The doctor then headed down the hallway into one of the rooms, with L shuffling behind him like a zombie. L didn't bother to step any closer to Mido than the doorway, as the doctor looked Near over on the bed inside.

Two minutes and five seconds later, Mido stepped away, looking rather shaken.

"Cardiac arrest?" L asked softly.

Mido could only nod. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Don't be," L replied quietly.

It was time to ask.

"Bring him back," he whispered.

* * *

**AN: Here's a point that needs to be brought up--if you love me for both this chapter and the previous one, you _probably_ haven't figured out what all this means yet. ****Therefore, if you totally want to _KILL ME_, then my mission has been accomplished. **

**Send reviews full of hate! (Or love. That's always acceptable, too.)**


	35. The Truth Behind The Faulty Logic

**AN: I am now officially on the run from those of you that wish to kill me.**

**

* * *

**

**May 28, 2011**  
**6:56 PM**

Mido frowned, as though L had said something he couldn't understand. "Bring him... What?"

"Bring him back," L repeated. "_Bring Near back to life._"

Mido raised an eyebrow but didn't manage to look at all intimidating. "R-Ryuzaki," the doctor stammered, "I don't think you have the situation in perspective. When somebody dies, their body goes through a series of phases--"

"I know full well," L interrupted, "what happens to the human body when it dies. And _I don't care._ I don't care how long it takes, but I want him brought back to life."

The doctor appeared almost speechless. "...You're absolutely certain?"

L glanced at Near, still lying dead on the bed. "We need him to catch Kira," he whispered.

He _lied_.

Maybe, if Mido brought Near back quickly enough, he could indeed help them catch the owner of the Death Note and bring him to justice, but it wasn't likely.

L was just being selfish.

He didn't want to live with the fact that Near was really gone.

But Mido didn't know that. Slowly, after several seconds of thought, he nodded his head. "It'll take me maybe... two months, if I work overtime," he estimated.

L didn't want to admit it, but that was an impressively short amount of time. "Only two months?"

Mido shrugged. "I've had practice."

L slowly nodded and forced himself to walk away.

But for the third time within the past few minutes, his thought process completely halted.

_Wait._

"Practice?" L inquired, turning around to face the doctor. "Bringing people back to life?"

"Well, yeah," Mido said as he shrugged. "On your body, mostly."

L frowned. "I wouldn't be so cocky as to consider one person 'practice,' Mido-san," he murmured.

"...Ah." Now the doctor was also frowning. "I suppose one body isn't much practice..."

L would have turned and left the basement with that as a satisfactory answer. He would have assumed it was entirely truthful coming from the doctor.

...Until he realized that Mido's nose was twitching.

His naturally large eyes got ever-so-slightly wider.

_Oh no._

"Were you lying," L asked slowly, "when you told me that I was the only person you'd ever brought back from the dead?"

The doctor's frown deepened. "No," Mido said evenly, "it was the truth."

The twitching was gone.

So... it was true...

_It was...!!_

"It _was_ the truth??" L questioned. "As in, it's not the truth anymore??"

Mido's frown disappeared as he thought over his response. "Erm... _well..._"

The doctor hesitated too long.

"Mido-san," L asked in a softer voice, "did you bring anyone else back to life after me?"

With a bit of a deliberate pause, the doctor swallowed.

"...Perhaps," he allowed meekly.

_!!!_

"Who??" L asked with just a hint of desperation.

Mido, as he generally did when L began asking sneaky questions, didn't give him a satisfying answer. "I can't tell you that. Patient confidentiality, you know."

L closed his eyes for a moment in thought.

_Dammit._

He opened his eyes as he got a vague idea.

"Mido-san," L tried again, "the person with Kira's powers needs a name and a face to kill. Near died from cardiac arrest, so we can rationally assume that Kira killed him... correct?"

With a raised eyebrow, the doctor nodded. "Was that a trick question?"

"No," L responded simply. "But Mido-san, only eight living people in the entire world knew Near's name: myself and all the members of the investigation team except Yamamoto. However," L subconsciously leaned in towards the doctor, "that would be eight living people. Or rather, _people that should not be dead._" L leaned back again. "If you include the people that should be dead, that makes ten people with the potential to use Kira's power to kill Near. And the problem with all of this is that _it only takes one doctor to bring the wrong person back to life_."

Mido was clearly trying to hide any reaction, but what L had said made him squirm. "_Who...?!_" he breathed. "Were the two people that died somehow related to Kira?"

_Not _that_ easily you don't._ "I don't think I should tell you," L said. Had he not been so serious about the subject, he probably would have been smug about it. "Case confidentiality, you know."

The doctor groaned out of frustration. "Ryuzaki!!"

"Just tell me who you brought back," L continued, "and perhaps I'll tell you more about Kira."

Clearly the doctor was going through a mental game of tug-of-war as he decided whether to tell L or keep the information to himself. After thirty-four seconds of mental debating, he gave a defeated sigh and began staring at his shoes. "He... couldn't be Kira!" Mido said determinedly. "He's just a kid that got mixed up in this Kira business and thought he could save the whole _damn_ world!!"

_Oh no._

"A... _kid_?" L asked, some of his monotone slipping away. "As in, _how old?_"

Mido grimaced as he heard L's voice change, but still didn't look up. "His mid-twenties."

Desperation was beginning to set in. "And he got mixed up with Kira because he--"

"Because his dad worked at the NPA," Mido interrupted with a mutter.

This wasn't happening.

This was _NOT. HAPPENING._

"What was his name?" L asked halfheartedly.

Mido finally glanced at him. "By the look on your face, I would say that you know."

L's stomach tightened as he thought of the person that killed him.

"_Light Yagami_."

Mido closed his eyes. He didn't nod, or give any sign that L was right. He just quietly asked another question.

"I screwed up big time, didn't I?"

* * *

**AN: YAY. Real plot. Finally.**


	36. Crucial

**AN: FLASHBACK(S)! Sweet, this chapter is actually a decent length... **

**Also, any and all random parallels were made on purpose. **

**

* * *

**

January 31, 2010  
1:00 PM

...Well.

Of all the things that Mido could have predicted would happen, this was definitely not one of them.

For three days, Kira had disappeared. Occasionally there was a day or so where criminals weren't killed, but never two. Three days in a row meant something was going on, and Mido was very concerned about it.

So he'd done the rational thing and--for the first time in several years--visited the NPA office to talk to Soichiro Yagami.

When he got to the front desk, though...

Yagami was dead, and had been for some time. The receptionist had been willing to tell him that much after looking in the NPA database and finding Mido as a former employee, and the doctor really didn't feel the need to learn any other details. He'd been just about to leave the building, still without an answer about Kira, when one of his former colleagues waved him down for a cup of coffee in his office.

"So, do you have any idea what's going on with Kira?" Mido had asked.

"Eh." His friend shrugged and took a large sip from a styrofoam cup. "It looks like maybe he's gone, but it's hard to say for certain."

Mido just nodded.

"Shame," the friend continued, "his last victim was a genius guy who worked here."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Finished at the top of his class at To-Oh and everything. His dad died a few months back, so his own death has been a real shock to everyone here."

"...That's a shame." Mido looked at his shoes because he couldn't think of much to say. _His dad, eh?_ "Purely out of curiosity, what was his name?"

"Um... Yagami? Yeah, Light Yagami."

Mido's head snapped up.

* * *

He knew that Soichiro Yagami was definitely dead; there was absolutely nothing that Mido could do to change that.

He also knew and realized that he owed Yagami a great debt. Throughout his younger life, the doctor had continuously found himself staring at the ceiling each night asking why the _hell_ he wasn't dead. He should have died several years ago, really, if certain forces hadn't intervened... It made him question what he was supposed to do in his life. But all romanticism aside, Yagami had fixed that: Mido had figured out his purpose because of the proposal that had been offered to him so many years prior.

And lastly, after talking with his colleague a bit longer, Mido was quite confident that Light Yagami should not have died--it seemed that everyone close to him had absolutely adored the man, and as the precise last victim of Kira everyone mourned him. After all, he'd only wanted justice served.

But for that, he'd paid with his life.

"I know that his family is probably planning on cremating him," Mido slowly allowed, "but... could I use his body? For research on the Kira case?"

To those that knew him, it didn't take a genius to deduce what the doctor was planning to do.

* * *

**...**

* * *

**...**

* * *

**February 14, 2011**  
**8:26 AM **

Light couldn't believe that he was actually _alive_.

It was a bit of a jarring experience, dying and then waking up in an underground hospital, of all places. He hadn't known what would happen after death, but he felt really lucky at the moment.

"And your name is...?" asked a man in a white lab coat.

Light remained silent. If he'd learned anything from living in a Kira-fearing world, it was never give out your name.

Seeing the look on his face, the man began to laugh. "Good! You're smart enough not to fall for that, at least."

Wait... This guy had been _testing him_?

It reminded Light of L.

The man had a bemused expression on his face. "Tell you what," he said, "I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours."

Light raised an eyebrow. "Oh... 'kay..."

The man extended his hand. "Doctor Takeshi Mido."

"Well..." Hesitantly Light took his hand. "Light."

"Yagami, right?"

Light sat straight up and almost bolted out of the place.

"Whoa! Jeez, you won't be able to walk for at least two weeks!" Gently the doctor eased Light back into the hospital bed. "Okay, I admit I cheated a little: I knew your name when I got your body."

_My body?_ "...Huh? What are you talking about?"

Doctor Takeshi Mido's face held a thoughtful expression. "I'll... tell you in a minute." He shook his head and changed the subject. "Do you want something to eat? Drink?"

"Um... Yeah..." Light really needed something to wake him up. "...Tea, please. With extra sugar."

Light couldn't help but notice that Mido made a strange face at that.

* * *

**February 28, 2011**  
**5:37 PM**

He still couldn't believe it.

Not only had Light woken up after dying, but he'd ended up in the old investigation building! The whole situation was getting to be beyond strange now.

Mido had gone out that afternoon to do something, his assistant was busy with the supplies man, and his secretary was moping around until the doctor got back (If Light were to guess, there was some romantic feelings involved, but anyway...). Point was, he had gotten really bored just lying there, so he'd attempted walking for the heck of it. And then, lo and behold, he'd discovered that he knew the password to the door by the stairwell!

He got an incredibly creepy sense of dejá vú standing in the old investigation headquarters. He kept glancing down at his wrist expecting to find himself attached to L by the handcuffs--

"_LIGHT!_"

Mido was running up the stairs so quickly he nearly missed Light standing in plain sight in the center of the ground floor. In his eyes was a scared gleam Light had never seen before.

"Oh, thank _God_! Light, you won't believe this, but _Kira's back!_"

* * *

Light didn't believe it.

No, that wasn't it: he refused to believe it. No matter what that--that... that _PRICK_ Near had told him on the day he'd died, Light knew he wasn't Kira.

Yet somehow...

He hadn't particularly noticed at first, because he seemed to avoid searching for certain things in his head, but now there was no point in denying it: there were some glaringly obvious gaps in his memories. It wasn't too bad, but once he tried to think beyond his high school graduation, sometimes he simply _couldn't remember_.

Especially the day he'd died.

He believed with every fiber of his being that he'd been framed as Kira. It explained why Near had accused him, it explained why the whole investigation team had last looked at him with hatred in their eyes, and it explained why Matsuda had tried to kill him on the spot.

At least, he sure as hell _hoped_ he'd been framed.

It was the only explanation he could handle to comprehend.

* * *

**May 28, 2011**  
**6:20 PM**

Light absolutely could NOT understand how it had come down to this!

He didn't know the man's name, but it was apparent that Misa had been _stupid_ enough to let a psychopath live in her apartment!

Light didn't love her--hell, he didn't even _like_ her--but after his death, for her to start LIVING with this guy? He knew her at least, and he wasn't going to let her throw her life away!

With completely noble intentions, he "borrowed" a Beretta he knew Mido kept in a desk drawer, took several thousand yen, and ran outside to hail a taxi.

* * *

**6:35 PM**

Light couldn't believe the sick _bastard _lying at his feet.

He'd shown up at Misa's apartment not sure what he was going to find, but a drunk man that kept on trying to hit him with a frying pan... It wasn't exactly what he'd expected.

Which led to a rather nasty confrontation on Misa's bedroom's floor.

With Mido's gun pointed at him (even though Light had taken the bullets out), the man refused to listen to Light's questions about Misa and instead kept believing he was being robbed. "Please! You want money? I got jewelry! In the bottom desk drawer! Or just cash?"

Light narrowed his eyes. "Shut _up_, you _stupid man_! I just want to know where Misa is!"

He hiccupped, as if to demonstrate that he was a helpless drunk. "Oooh! I know! Someone like you could do okay with a notebook that kills people, right?"

Light put the gun to the man's forehead. "_Really_," he said sarcastically.

"That one on top of the dresser! _I swear to God it kills people!_"

That was the breaking point: Light had had _more_ than enough of this guy. He reached for the notebook the man had mentioned. "You _idiot_! I'll show you how to kill someone using a--"

* * *

Light... _didn't believe his luck._

The Death Note and all of it's memories belonged to him again.

"Hello, Ryuk," he said smoothly to the newly visible shinigami in the doorway. "I would have brought you an apple, but I didn't have the slightest idea I'd see you again."

For once, Ryuk seemed completely speechless. "Um... Light... I, uh, kinda _killed you _last year...?"

Light shrugged it off. "I'll explain later." His cold gaze returned to the man on the floor. "But first."

The man's eyes were wide as Light walked over to him.

"Now," Light said as he loaded the gun, "we can do this one of two ways. Either you tell me your full name or I put a bullet through your skull."

The man didn't even hesitate. "M-Mamoru Miyano! My name is _Mamoru Miyano_!"

_Well, he might be stupid, but at least he knows what he's dealing with. _

With a few swift pen-strokes, the man named Mamoru Miyano was as good as dead. "And... where is Misa Amane?"

"She's dead, I swear! She died a few months ago on Febuary fourtee--" Miyano was cut off as the Death Note took effect.

"Shame," Light murmured. "I might have had another use for her... Come on, Ryuk," he said as he walked calmly out the door, careful to not step on the dead body. "Let's find you an apple."

* * *

**6:49 PM**

Several blocks away from the apartment, Light stopped in his tracks.

"Um... You okay?" Ryuk asked. Clearly the shinigami was still a bit unnerved that Light was really alive.

Light pulled out the notebook and wrote down nine English letters. Ryuk actually cracked a smile when he realized what Light was doing.

_Nate River._

"To answer your question, Ryuk," Light responded with a half-crazy grin on his face, "I've never felt more alive."

* * *

**AN: Epic explanation is epic! And totally cannon to the rest of this story too. **

**You see why I wanted to write the whole thing out before posting it yet? (And heck--I just realized I didn't make any mention of Light's injuries from being shot and all... meh, whatever. Mido fixed him up somewhere along the line.)**

**If you love it, hate it, are lost, etc, the solution is _always _to review!**


	37. Omission

**AN: For those of you that were like, "Mido needs beaten up! lol," it's not really going to take place. I mean, everybody _knows_ he did it, but they also realize it's completely not his fault that Near died and stuff (and that isn't just because he's an OC or anything...). **

**And, well, as if things weren't bad enough... *cough*read!*cough* -.-'**

* * *

**May 28, 2011 **  
**7:07 PM**

L shuffled into the elevator and hit the button for the correct floor automatically. Upstairs was a kitchen, where there would be éclairs, chocolate, strawberries...

Point being: he needed sugar. Without it, he felt like his brain was going to explode.

Mido had explained what he could to the detective, but L _couldn't figure it out_. It wasn't a matter of why Mido had done it--he'd felt like he'd owed Yagami something, and to L that made a decent amount of sense--and it wasn't a matter of whether it was true or not.

Light was definitely alive.

...But for reasons L couldn't figure out, it seemed as though he had gained a Death Note.

There was a significant gap in how it all fit together: he couldn't understand how Light had gotten the information on Miyano and figured out that he had a notebook. He knew Mido wouldn't have told him anything because the doctor didn't even know about it; he knew the members of the investigation team or SPK hadn't known Light was there, since none of them would have kept that much a secret and hardly any of them regularly went into the basement; he also knew for a fact that Light hadn't hacked into the system, as L spent practically all of his time at the computers.

So how...?

_Damn you Kira..._

No, not Kira. _Damn you Light Yagami. _

The thought of all that had happened almost made L physically sick. Before, Kira had been a faceless entity that killed people; L had practically never met a murderer in person before. There was absolutely no connection between the two of them other than the obvious detective/criminal ties. But then Kira--Light Yagami--killed L practically in person, and the status quo changed completely.

One of the worst things L could imagine--for both his career and his ego--was to know who the culprit of a crime was and be able to do absolutely nothing about it. The fact that Light had managed to actually _kill_ L made the situation significantly worse. He knew Light was out there in the city somewhere, believing he had succeeded in ridding the world of L and his heirs forever.

L knew one thing about that for certain: Light was dead wrong.

L knew a challenge when he saw one; even better, he knew Light's thought process. _Anyone that dares to discover the identity of Kira will be killed. I dare you to track me down!_

The elevator door opened and L walked down a short hall to the kitchen. Just as he reached the door, a sudden realization struck him.

_I'm the only one that's safe._

He was supposed to be dead: it automatically ruled out the possibility that anyone would try to kill him with a Death Note. However, the entire rest of the investigation team and SPK were completely susceptible to Light--he knew all of their names. _Not even Mido-san is safe._

L opened the fridge and grabbed a plate of strawberries. Even as he was eating, he practically felt his brain capacity expanding.

Then he realized something was wrong with the previous point, because Mido wasn't dead. It didn't make much logical sense, because if Light killed Near than he might as well just have killed the rest of the investigation team at the same time (and the doctor) to clean up any loose ends to his identity. But he hadn't... had he?

L fished his cellphone out of his jeans' pocket and dialed Aizawa's number. On the second ring he picked up. "Hello?"

_So he isn't dead yet either..._

"Are you almost finished?" L asked.

"Nearly," Aizawa said. He sighed, and in the momentary silence L could hear numerous other people moving around in the background. "We don't know who used the De--erm... _Kira's power _to kill Miyano, but he certainly didn't leave any evidence behind here..."

"Oh?" A small lump formed in L's throat. "I know who killed him."

At any other time, it would have sounded like a boast.

"You _do?_" Aizawa was completely taken by surprise.

"I need everyone in the investigation team to come back here immediately," L said. He held back a small sigh. "Something... _unexpected_ has happened."

If he were to use that adjective for Near's death... then yes, something very unexpected had come up indeed.

"We'll be back by 7:30," Aizawa finished hurriedly before hanging up.

L stuffed his cellphone back into his pocket before taking another bite of a strawberry. He had to admit, sugar did wonders for his nerves. Already he felt more optimistic about the situation: there was a good 89% chance they would catch Light.

And then, for the final time, L would win the war.

* * *

**7:34 PM**

Aizawa couldn't remember what the varying symptoms of shock were, and he didn't know what it felt like to be in shock, but he felt reality slipping away when they got back to the investigation building and L began explaining all the events that had transpired while the task force had been away at Miyano's apartment.

Near was dead.

Mido was bringing him back to life.

And--SURPRISE! Several months ago Mido had gotten Light's body and, apparently judging him to be an unfortunate soul to simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time, brought him back to life as well.

Life just seemed to _suck_ for the investigation team at that moment.

Back to his original point of thought: Aizawa wondered if he was going into shock because he didn't feel a damn thing about _any_ of this. He wasn't sad about Near dying or angry at Mido for being stupid or determined to catch Light as Kira. All he felt was sort of confused and really, really tired.

It was, understandably, rather overwhelming to have all this happen at once.

L seemed to be that way too. He seemed even more monotone and indifferent than he normally was, and not in an absentminded way. There was almost a strain in his voice, like he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep--and considering he was an insomniac that Aizawa could barely read most of the time, that was saying quite a bit.

The rest of the investigation team and SPK showed various emotions. Rester and Gevanni both had their heads hung low, and it was evident that Halle was on the verge of tears. Mogi seemed tense; Ide kept clenching his fists; Yamamoto was shaking in his shoes. And Matsuda...

Well, frankly, he looked _pissed_. It was the second time Aizawa had ever seen him so mad, with the Yellow Box warehouse counting as the first.

"_I'm going to kill him,_" said officer muttered under his breath. A dangerous-sounding emotion was there, one that not even Aizawa could identify.

L glanced at him. Either he hadn't noticed Matsuda's tone of voice, or he was completely ignoring it. _He's so tired-looking, who knows?_ "Matsuda-san," L said softly, "please don't do anything rash. Is killing Light yourself what you should do?"

"_I don't care!_" Matsuda completely exploded. "How many times do we have to kill him _before he stays dead_?"

Nobody really had an answer to that.

"I hate to admit it, but he has a point," Ide slowly allowed.

Aizawa glared at him. "Not helping."

Out of the corner of his eye, Aizawa noticed that Yamamoto, who was basically Matsuda's best friend, wasn't saying anything. Instead, he was literally shaking... _With fear? _By then, Aizawa was downright staring at him and trying to figure out what was wrong, but nobody noticed.

Instead, in a rare verbal moment, Mogi spoke. "Look, Matsuda... Light was a friend to all of us before we knew he was Kira, but--"

Without any warning that Aizawa could see, Yamamoto squeaked and slumped on the floor.

"Whoa!" Matsuda's anger abruptly disappeared. With even a bit of urgency, he sat down on the floor next to his friend. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine..." Yamamoto mumbled.

"Obviously not," Matsuda said while trying to get Yamamoto to stand. "Does someone need to call Mido up here for--"

"_No!_" He said it so forcefully that Aizawa seriously began doubting his sanity. Yamamoto apparently realized that because, much softer, he whispered, "I'm o-okay... R-really."

And then he began to sob into Matsuda's shirt while said officer sat there looking extremely confused.

"I'll get some tissues!" Halle ran out with Gevanni close behind her (because he apparently didn't have any better ideas).

"Um... What the hell is going on?" Ide asked nobody in particular.

"You know..." Aizawa said, rubbing his forehead, "I don't have a damn clue."

L, who normally had a half-decent answer for questions like that, didn't say anything: he still seemed to be in an autopilot state of shock where he couldn't think completely straight.

"I think I know."

The one to break the silence was Mido, who stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and his head supported by the frame. Aizawa could have sworn the doctor had aged at least five years since he'd seen the man that morning.

"Mido-san?" L asked curiously.

"I was hoping he'd tell you himself..." Mido murmured.

_Who... Yamamoto?_

"Tell us _what_?" asked Matsuda.

"Don't," Yamamoto murmured to the doctor through Matsuda's shirt. "Please _don't_."

Mido glanced in his direction but still continued with a pained face. "It's because," he said slowly, "he knew Light was in the basement this whole time."

* * *

**AN: Yeouch. **

**I believe the appropriate expression for a situation like this would be something along the lines of "Spit happens" (aaaaand that's what I get for hanging around llama people). **

**Whoever reviews first gets a cookie! And even if you're not the first, don't let that discourage you. LOL. **


	38. Yamamoto

**AN: NEWS FLASH!**

**If you have the second volume of Death Note on hand, check out page 185. If you don't (or are just too lazy to find it), then do copy-paste with the link below, take out the spaces, and insert periods. If you don't check this out then I guess it's okay, but you'll understand more of where I'm coming from if you look it up. (And yes, for those of you that aren't complete lazy bums, that is _exactly_ who you think it is--Nikki and I compared the frame there to the frames at the very end of the series, and it's _definitely _supposed to be him.)**

**Seriously though, it totally blew my mind. Thanks for telling me 'bout it, Rosie!**

view thespectrum net/series/death-note-volume-01 html?ch=Volume+02&page=191

* * *

**March 2, 2011**  
**3:42 PM **

The day after Jaymes Fosse was killed.

Already it was clear that Yamamoto, being the youngest member on the investigation team, was the one that would always be made to go downstairs and borrow things from Mido, since apparently the rest of the team was too lazy to do it themselves.

"Stupid Matsuda, making me go look for paperclips... What does he even _need_ the damned paperclips for, anyway?"

The elevator door opened, and he stepped out, still grumbling to himself. _I have to figure out where Mido is..._ But as it turned out, the doctor was talking to someone down the hallway, so he didn't even need to shout for him.

"See, I don't know what they're doing for the investigation, but if they find any interesting information and inform me, I'll tell you, okay?"

Yamamoto's mind froze as he headed towards Mido's voice in sort of a "Holy crap!" moment. _Is Mido a _spy_ or something...?_

"Dammit Mido, I don't like being stuck down here without any news and _you know it_!"

_That voice... Could that actually be...?_

Yamamoto rounded the corner and saw Mido talking to--

"_Light?_" he squeaked.

The brunette man turned around, and his eyes widened in recognition. "_Yamamoto?_"

Mido's immediate expression was somewhere between startled and pissed off. "Oh _hell_...!"

Yamamoto felt himself smiling, probably due more to the coincidental shock of it all than anything else. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Light sported a similar grin. "I could ask the same of you!"

Mido came very close to giving himself a facepalm before simply deciding to sigh. "It's Yamamoto, right? I _really_ don't think you should be down here--"

"No, it's okay!" Light tried to convince him. "We know each other! There's no harm done!

The doctor sighed again, but with a bit more exasperation this time. "_No_, it's _not_ okay! _You're supposed to be dead_, remember?"

Yamamoto interjected nervously, "Um, Doctor Mido, i-it really is okay. I-I won't tell anyone he's here! Promise!"

Mido glared at him half-heartedly. "You _better_ not. There's going to be hell for me to pay if the wrong person finds out."

_'Wrong person' probably means 'Ryuzaki,'_ Yamamoto assumed. _He might freak out a bit if he knows Mido's been bringing other people besides him back to life._ In response to the doctors order, he nodded his head so quickly everything blurred.

Light had probably heard the emphasis in the doctor's voice, but he apparently decided to ignore it because he changed the subject. "So, Yamamoto... what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, I... I guess I work upstairs."

Light raised an eyebrow. "Doing what?"

"Looking for Kira. Again."

Mido winced, and Light's eyes got ever-so-slightly larger.

"I know." Yamamoto shrugged. "It seems like it's gonna go on forever, doesn't it?"

Light avoided his eyes, as if sensitive to the subject. "...Yeah... it does..."

Taking the doctor's leering glance as a signal to change the subject again, Yamamoto stuttered the obvious question: "So, um... I guess Mido... um...?"

"Oh..." Light glanced at Mido, who pretended to be looking at the wall. After rolling his eyes he nodded. "Mmhm."

Then an incredibly obvious thing occured to Yamamoto.

_Oh my _God_!_

"Wait a minute! Doesn't that mean that Kira...!" _...killed you?_ Afraid of accidentilly making another stupid remark, he didn't bother to finish the sentence.

Light got the point, and tentatively answered, "More or less..."

Yamamoto's eyes widened. "Oh, God! I-I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking!"

"That's okay." Suddenly Light looked him straight in the eyes and smirked slightly. "Do me a favor?"

"Well... sure."

"Catch that bastard for me, would you?"

* * *

**March 3, 2011**  
**1:07 PM**

"_Psst! Yamamoto!_"

Yamamoto glanced around the basement for the noise before noticing Mido motioning for him to come join him around the corner. On tip-toe for reasons he didn't quite understand, Yamamoto inched over to the doctor. "You, um, want me for something?" he whispered.

"Okay, you don't _have_ to whisper. Just don't be too loud," Mido said, rolling his eyes. "I sent everyone down here out on a free day and knocked Light out with some sleeping pills."

_Knocked Light out...?_ "Um, why?"

"Because I wanted to clarify something for you if you're going to keep coming down here to visit him."

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. "Oh... 'kay...?"

"Look: I know he's interested in the investigation and everything, but it's a bit, erm... tough for him to swallow that he's stuck down here in a basement and not up there helping you guys."

Yamamoto thought about that for a second. _Light's smart enough that he can maybe outwit Near--or even _Ryuzaki_--and he's stuck here twiddling his thumbs... _"I guess, um, that makes sense. Soooooo... what did you want me to do?"

"Hmm? I'll help him get over his boredom," Mido said, "but I'm asking you to keep the details of the case at a minimum."

...That made sense, too: remove the temptation as much as was possible.

"Don't even mention who's working with you upstairs," Mido added.

Yamamoto frowned. "Huh? What does _that_ have to do with this?"

"I know precautions have been taken, but..." The doctor paused and chose his words carefully. "Frankly, that didn't save either Light or Ryuzaki the first time around in preventing their deaths, did it?"

_Ah._ "Got it. I promise I won't tell him anything important."

* * *

**May 28, 2011**  
**6:18 PM**

"Hey Yamamoto," Light heard the elevator door open and assumed it was his friend. He rounded the corner. "What're you doing?"

Yamamoto trudged toward him and smiled weakly. "Hi Light," he offered.

"What's wrong?" Light frowned, and he noticed that Yamamoto was cradling his shoulder.

"I need a bandage. Badly." He lifted his hand up off the apparent wound, saw blood, and quickly covered it up again. "Is Mido around here somewhere?"

Light's eyes got quite wide. _Was he shot at or something?_ "No, he randomly took his secretary out on a date, I think... you know what? Screw the doctor." Light walked over and looked at Yamamoto's shoulder. "Good _God_, what happened?"

Yamamoto winced. "Well, um, someone tried to put a bullet in my skull, but they missed and took a small chip off my shoulder instead... It's a long story--"

"Come on, I can fix that up since Mido isn't here." Light half-dragged Yamamoto into the room where he knew all the medical supplies were kept. Yamamoto sat down in a chair and Light dug some antiseptic out of the cupboard. "If it's a long story that's okay, because I want to hear it. Oh--and this might sting a little..."

"Okay, well... We're sort of investigating this one guy--_OUCH_!" Yamamoto shouted on accident.

Light rolled his eyes. "I told you it would sting!"

Yamamoto gritted his teeth. "You said it _might_ sting! Agh!... But, anyway, we're investigating--_OUCH!_--a man living in Misa's apartment, because he might be Kira."

_Living with Misa? _"And he _shot at you_?"

"Yeah, he--" Yamamoto's expression changed from pained to sympathetic. "He did. Oh _jeez_, Light, I'm sorry. It had to be hard for you to hear the news, since you were engaged and all before..."

_Hard for me to hear that my former fiancée is apparently dating a _psychopath_? Yeah, it kinda is._ Light finished wrapping Yamamoto's shoulder with a bandage. "I think I'm dealing okay... There. Done."

"Good." Yamamoto stood up and winced a little at the pain in his shoulder. "We're gonna arrest him tonight and hopefully book him as being Kira."

"It's about time," Light muttered.

"I'll get you more news when we come back, okay?" Yamamoto left for the elevator without waiting for a response.

_Like _hell _I'll just sit here and wait for news._ He had to get Misa away from this insane new guy, ASAP.

Without much of a plan in mind, he reached into a nearby desk drawer and got out the Beretta...

* * *

**AN: Well, I think that covers basically all Light-related flashbacks.**

**We have now officially exited the confusing-plot section of the story. ****Please remember to pick up all personal items before you go. Thank you.**

**...Okay, I'm not trying to take attention away from the acutal fic or anything, but here's some crap that needs to be said and taken care of.****  
1. There's a new poll on my profile--the result from the old one is on my profile too.  
2. To yaoi fans--check out the new story that I posted, "Don't Trust Me." I think you'll enjoy it overall.  
3. To non-yaoi fans--check out the new story that I posted, "Don't Trust Me." Yes, I just said that yaoi fans would like it, but _trust me_ (unintended pun!), you guys will get the last laugh. Honestly.  
4. Have I mentioned lately that you guys all rock? Cuz you totally do--I've gotten more reviews/favorites/alerts than I optimistically ever could have hoped to. COOKIES FOR EVERYONE! :D**

**Review? ^.^**


	39. The Knowledge of a Name

**AN: TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY I'M STUCK IN SCHOOL! AND TOMORROW IS ALSO THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THIS FIC! WHOOOOOT! **

* * *

**May 28, 2011**  
**7:52 PM**

The room was quiet.

_So Yamamoto knew Light before, and he inadvertantly told Light where the Death Note was..._

"In a way," L said, breaking the stunned silence, "that makes perfect sense."

"Huh?" a meek Yamamoto asked. "You're not going to throw me in prison or anything?"

L glanced between Yamamoto and the doctor. "I haven't decided what to do about you or Mido yet, but I'm only about 2% concerned with that at the moment." _We need to catch Light before we can bother with anything else._

"Wait," Aizawa said with a frown, "it makes perfect sense_ that Yamamoto told Light about Miyano?_"

"It explains why Light hasn't killed any of us yet," L quickly clarified as he looked over the investigation team's stunned faces. "Other than myself, he has every reason to believe that the rest of you are still alive, and after killing Near he very well should have gone ahead and killed the rest of you at about the same time-"

"_So we're all going to die?_" Matsuda panicked.

L frowned. "No, Matsuda-san, that's the point. He didn't kill any of you when he was Kira before-because, I believe, he didn't want to kill his own father. The same idea applies here because Yamamoto is his friend." For the most part, what he said was completely true... perhaps it still didn't explain why the SPK hadn't had heart attacks, but L didn't intend to look into that matter too deeply.

"So... we aren't completely safe... but this is as good as it might get," Aizawa summed up.

"More or less," Mido said, shrugging. He sighed and rubbed his forehead habitually.

"We need to catch him," Halle pointed out, "before he changes his mind."

"How on earth _are_ we going to catch him?" Gevanni asked nobody in particular.

It was silent again. Then an incredibly simple idea came to L. He tilted his head and turned to look at Mido. "Any ideas, doctor?" he pointedly asked.

Mido thought for a brief moment before opting to sigh again. "I don't think I can help you with this... I'm sorry."

_Oh, but you can... _"You found me, didn't you?"

For a minute, the doctor's face was positively blank. "Well, I did..."

"How?" L hinted.

"Because I... I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"Well, I didn't tell you where I was going, so you had to use..."

"I used... _OH!_" Mido finally got it. "That tracking dot!"

"A tracking dot...?" Aizawa questioned. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

"I put a tracking dot in one of L's shoes when he decided he wanted to leave the building," Mido explained. "The very day Miyano became Kira, I used it to find him. You're lucky-I did the same thing to Light's shoe... just as a precaution, you know?"

"Good call," Rester said approvingly.

"Alright," said Matsuda, "so we can just use the tracking dot to find Light..." A goofy grin came onto his face. "I feel better about the situation already!"

"Don't get _too_ excited," Aizawa warned. "We haven't caught him yet."

"Indeed," L murmured. Louder, he said, "I'm sure that if we all go downstairs, Mido-san would show us how we can track Light in a short amout of time."

The doctor stepped out of the doorway. "Come on: we're losing valuble time..."

Everyone left the room, with Mido standing there by the door and L still sitting in his chair. Mido, not 100% sure what L was doing, frowned. "Aren't you coming, Ryuzaki?"

L stared at him, unperturbed. "How long have you known?"

"How long have I-" The doctor was thrown off. "...Hmm? What are you talking about?"

"How long," L said again, "have you known?"

"Known what?"

L continued to stare. "You called me L."

Mido blinked. "...Oh."

"Let me ask you once again: how long have you known that I am L?"

The doctor half-opened his mouth, then frowned and closed it again. Finally he said, "Honestly, I'm not sure. One day, a few months ago... I just knew."

"Did you suspect it before then?" L asked, tilting his head.

Mido almost smiled. "Oh, definitely."

"Since when?"

The doctor half-shrugged. "Well... since I got your body. It occurred to me that perhaps Soichiro Yagami wasn't talking about just a friend-he had spoken rather as though he revered you, like all hope was completely lost when you died." Mido paused. "Not to mention... he called you 'One of the brightest members of the team.' I frankly couldn't imagine there being a person that would have had all that apply and not be L."

L tilted his head and continued to stare at the doctor. "Oh... but there was."

_Light Yagami._

Mido looked at L. "I know I assumed wrong now: that lesson was learned the hard way."

L bit his thumb. "It's quite coincidental, really: you just happen to get my body, as well as the body of the man that killed me." _And you brought both of us back to life._

"I didn't see it that way," Mido said defensively. "All I knew was that two people died, both from cardiac arrest. One was practically unanimous, and he was killed because he was directly related to the investigation team. The other was the son of the man that gave me this job, and he was killed because he simply appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Perhaps..." Another thought crossed L's mind, and he frowned slightly before saying, "You owed a debt to Yagami-san, it is true. But Mido-san, I don't think you ever said why you brought me back to life."

The doctor didn't hesitate.

"Because," Mido replied, "I wanted to see Kira caught."

* * *

**AN: Hmmmm... I'd say sorry for the long update, but almost nobody reviewed the last chapter. So I said to myself that instead of freaking out, I'd just wait to post until I got one more review... and that just happened to take forever.**

**So review!1!1111! (Even if it is just to say "ONE YEAR ALREADY?" LOL.)**


	40. Ticking Clocks

**AN: ****HOLY HOLY HOLY HOLY HOLY CRAP! The chapter I consider the most epic of all the ones yet published HAS ARRIVED!**

**I honestly was thinking about making this whole thing last a lot longer, because that would be the awesome thing to do... but then I thought about it, and I was like, "Oh CRAP, Light wouldn't do that and that and that, but rather he'd _probably_ attempt this because he doesn't know about so and so and whatever!" So if you think I should have made this out to be longer, then sorry, because I don't think it would work in-character. **

**Well, this is the last author's note I'll be sticking in for a while, because I don't want to make any stupid comments that take away from the action. Sound okay? Good. **

**I also promise to update ASAP, because our crappy internet no longer works and I'm forced to use the computers at the library**** (my mom thought it would be a good idea to try and adjust our satellite on her own without professional help... WHAT ON EARTH POSSESSED HER TO DO THAT EXACTLY?). **

**Last thing: notice the important addition of the seconds ticking down on the clock... O.o**

* * *

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:11:23 PM**

L was alone in the basement.

For the first time that evening, he didn't feel pressed for the seconds that were slowly slipping away. Light would be caught: it was inevitable. So now L simply was there, in the room where he had woken up. Waiting for something.

He'd asked to be alone. He'd never been much of a social person, obviously, and he needed time to just sit there and think. Think, and hear the nearly-silent ticking of the clock on the wall.

_Tick, tick, tick._

It came down to Light dying. An unavoidable part of the cycle was that someone had to die, and L was certain it wouldn't be him. He wouldn't let it happen. A phone call was all he was waiting for: Aizawa should phone him at any time, say that Light was in custody, and L would have to opprotunity to rub it in his face-how utterly defeated he was, for the second time.

The clock helped to pass the time, somewhat. It reminded L how forty seconds could completely change the status quo.

And how the right (or wrong) person at the right (or wrong) time with the right (or wrong) motives could give the world a different destiny.

At least L knew that Mido, the person this ordeal largely revolved around, was on his side now.

_"Because I wanted to see Kira caught."_

And really, seeing Kira caught was all that mattered as the seconds passed.

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Ti-_

_Wait a moment._

"Now why would he say that?" L murmured aloud.

Mido had lied.

Kira was a threat to the world; there was no doubt about that. Kira should be brought down in any way possible; L agreed with that. It was definitely a philosophy he endorsed: the ends justify the means.

So... Mido had brought L back to catch Kira, eh?

An entire _year_ after Kira had disappeared?

It hadn't been just a fib in context, or even a partial truth: it was a downright dishonest statement. Kira was long gone by the time that L was alive again-the notion of him being brought back to catch Kira was preposterous. L even remembered a conversation that had taken place the day he'd been brought back, in which Mido had said that he had waited until then because _he didn't want Kira to kill L again._

So... _why do it?_

Soichiro Yagami had been dead by that point; Mido had definitely known that, and besides, his apparent debt to Soichiro was why he had brought Light back to life, not L. It wasn't just that L was the three greatest detectives in the world either, because that would have been another reason to bring him back to catch Kira.

There wasn't any rhyme or reason to it, it seemed.

One thing humans all had in common: they did things for a reason. _Serial killers don't act purely for entertainment except in extreme cases. Mido is smart, and he wouldn't bring go and reverse death just because he was bored..._

_Or would he?_

That got L thinking even more. Ryuk the shinigami had been bored, so he dropped the Death Note that started it all down onto the earth. Light had been bored, and it had inspired him to use the notebook to make the world "a better place."

...Perhaps the whole thing, spanning for seven and a half years, hadn't been a true competition or a battle at all. Maybe it was just a way to be entertained on all fronts.

Just a game with lives of countless people hanging in the balance.

...

_No._

It had started out that way, certainly. But it was a game no longer.

It was a battle to the end, and this was the last chance Light and L had.

It always came down to this.

* * *

It had occurred to L that, perhaps, while the investigation team might catch Light with the tracking dot as they supposed, it was very possible that Light had completely outwitted them in that aspect. L had not discovered the dot in his shoe because he hated shoes anyway and would never have thought that there was something in it that should not have been. Light, however, was a different story: he looked over every single miniscule detail of his life, and especially his appearance.

A tracking dot in his shoe would be noticible to him.

A tracking dot was something Light _probably_ would have gotten rid of the instant he noticed it.

It didn't matter what he'd done with it-he could have dropped it into some old woman's purse for all L knew-but there was a 68% chance that the investigation team was tracing a completely irrelevant person. So what would Light logically do next?

...He'd been capable of pulling off the façade as a high school and college student.

Why couldn't he pretend the same way in Mido's basement, so long as he didn't think he was in any danger?

It was extremely likely: Light would do it.

...

Somewhere down the hallway and up the stairwell, L heard the outside door slam.

For a few minutes, there was only quiet. He sat there in the near silence, listening to the clock.

_Tick, tick, tick._

At some point, he heard footsteps emerge seamlessly into the same rhythm.

_Step, step, step._

"Mido...? Hello? I'm sorry I disappeared like that. Yamamoto said something that kind of freaked me out, and I just needed to cool down."

_I forgot how convincing he can sound sometimes._

The footsteps were much closer. L, who was facing away from the door, noticed that they stopped about nearby.

"Hmm...?"

The footsteps backed up, and L could have sworn he heard a gasp.

"_No!_" an angry voice seethed.

L turned around, a sickly sweet smirk on his face.

"Hello,_ Light._"


	41. Written In This Notebook

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:18:42 PM**

To his credit, Light wasn't completely rude towards his nemesis.

"Hello, Ryuzaki," he replied with a bit of a sneer. Light began to move slowly around the room, like he was a vulture and L was a piece of dead meat. Knowing Light and his ego, he has doubtlessly decided something similar should be the outcome.

Too bad.

L, sitting on the hospital bed in the center of Light's circling movements, watched his every step. "Pardon me," he said, glaring, "but that isn't my name."

Light paused in his rhythmic movement and pretended to find the wall interesting for a moment. "Ah, yes: forgive my old habit of calling you by a fake name, _L_," he practically snarled.

"You're forgiven for that, _Kira_," L shot back.

His words were empty.

The war was silently being declared. For the first time, it wasn't Light Yagami against Ryuzaki in a battle to uncover the other's identity; it was L against Kira-and winning meant living.

The masks were off. The façade was stripped.

Someone was going to die that night.

"Oh, honestly: you shouldn't address me like that," Light said softly, faking with his tone that he had been hurt. He began circling again. "I'm your _friend_, remember?"

Light kept circling, and neither of them dared to look away. To break eye contact was to lose any advantage. _Someone has to make a move._

"Do friends kill each other?" L asked, feigning innocence.

Light frowned deeply. "Is that what you're worried about? That I killed you?"

"No," L admitted, "I'm more worried about what Mido-san will say when he comes back down here and finds your blood on the floor."

A sick grin slid comfortably onto Light's face. He continued circling L. "That's a vain hope, I'm afraid. It isn't going to happen."

L shrugged, as if indifferent. "What can I say? You started it, after all, so I'm just going to have to finish it."

"You wonder why I started it instead of making the second move?" Light asked. "Because you never win on the defensive side of the field."

Then it happened at exactly 8:22:13 PM.

Light-almost out of nowhere-pulled out his Death Note and began to scribble in it furiously. In that same second, L launched himself off the bed and knocked Light to the ground with most of the strength he had.

The notebook barely touched L's hand, but it was enough. It went skidding across the floor out of Light's reach. "Dammit!" he screamed.

L punched him before he could speak again.

Needless to say, Light retaliated and punched back.

It was an all-out brawl. The two of them had fought before, but not with the fury they did there in the basement. There were no handcuffs restricting them, or doubts to soften the blows. Countless hits and kicks later, Light seemed to be losing energy, and L kicked him a final time in the chest. There was a satisfying crunch.

"Damn... you... _Kira_," L murmured. With no small amount of effort, he stood up.

"_Whoa! _What happened here?"

L turned around and nearly screamed. A giant black monster stood there, his neck tilted at an impossibly awkward angle to look at the detective. _Is this Ryuk? It very well could be: I did touch the notebook, and so should be-_

L stopped thinking suddenly, because just then he realized he'd made a fatal mistake.

He'd turned away, and therefore had taken his eyes off of Light.

It had only been for a second, but that had been long enough. Light had managed to sweep his legs around despite having probably broken a few ribs, and he swung them with enough force to knock L down. With a stumble, L fell over backward and hit his head on the side of the concrete wall. His vision began to blur around the edges and he felt almost like he was going to lose conciousness.

No.

_Not yet._

But it was too late: Light was already reaching across the floor for the Death Note, and-slowly and deliberately-he wrote down eight English letters. L didn't have the strength to stop him.

_No._

"_No!_"

"_Yes!_" Light hissed. He turned the notebook to allow L to see exactly what he had written.

_L Lawliet_

The time was 8:25:20 PM on May 28, 2011.

By the time 8:26 came, L would be dead.

_The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die._

It was inevitable.


	42. Broken

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:25:23 PM**

Of all the specific things he could have been feeling - sad, depressed, regretful, shocked - only one really seemed to fit L at that moment.

Pissed.

"Mido-san won't let you get away," L said through gritted teeth. Despite the bump on his head and the overwhelming urge to lose conciousness, he managed stand up and support himself. "He's here, he knows you're Kira, and - most importantly - he knows how to use a gun."

Light laughed and, using much of his own strength, stood up as well. "That's a lie and you know it. The doctor couldn't hurt a _fly_ if he wanted to."

Granted, Mido hadn't actually shot anyone that L knew of... but it was possible. In theory. "_He can bring me back_," L hissed.

"Not after I'm finished with your corpse," Light smirked.

This whole time, Ryuk had been standing there looking at the both of them like he was at a freak show. Suddenly, though, he began speaking. "Um... Light?"

Light barely glanced at the shinigami. "What is it?"

"Erm... I don't think he's gonna die."

L slumped to the floor, the realization of it finally beginning to sink in.

_I'm going to die. I wasn't strong enough to kill Kira._

Light responded by laughing. "Very funny. You think I'm going to freak out if you say that?"

"No."

The laughter stopped, and Light began to look a bit confused. "Then why say it?"

Ryuk shrugged. "I'm just telling you... I don't think he's gonna die."

L's attention was no longer on their conversation. _I have five seconds left._

"Well, why NOT?"

_Three._

"Explain why he won't die!"

_Two..._

The shinigami paused.

_One...!_

"...He has no numbers."

_Zero._

* * *

L felt nothing.

There was no pain; there was no suffering. It wasn't like the first time he'd had a heart attack at all.

...

After a few seconds, he reasonably concluded that the lack of chest contractions meant that he really wasn't going to die.

He pinched himself, just to make sure.

_How? A fake notebook? A mistake Kira made?_

"It's not possible!" Light screeched.

"It is..." L slowly allowed. He turned to Ryuk. "I take it that _Kira_ has no numbers either?"

The shinigami grinned. "Yer pretty smart."

It was because they'd been brought back. Mido had broken all the rules.

_The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. _Why should it work on a human who was - or had been - dead already?

Light figured it out at about the same time L did. With a calm resolution, he put the notebook away in the inside of his jacket. "Shame. I suppose you want to fight me some more?"

"Why not?" L said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Neither one of us has the advantage any more."

"You're wrong."

Even faster than when he had pulled out the Death Note, Light pulled out a gun. L's mental process froze as he recognized it as Mido's.

"L," Light said curtly. "Goodbye."

He pulled the trigger.


	43. Ultimatum

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:26:54 PM**

After the gunshot, for just a moment... it was completely silent.

A few seconds later, the spell was broken. L slumped to the floor with a small groan. "Kira... _You...!_"

"Shot you? Very observant." He put the gun away. A random towel was sitting on the counter; Light grabbed it and tossed it to L on the floor. "You might want to cover that bullet wound up - you might live a few minutes longer."

Grudgingly, since Light was correct, L pressed the towel to his stomach.

_Why couldn't he have just shot me in the damned head?_

But L knew the answer. It was because Light wanted to make him suffer. A bullet in his skull would have gotten the job done, but it wouldn't have been any fun. This way, with a shot to the stomach, it would take L an agonizing fifteen minutes to die as his stomach acid slowly killed him. He probably wouldn't lose conciousness for about five minutes, and until then the pain would be almost unbearable.

It was only intended to rub it in his face that he had lost.

If he'd had the chance, L would have done the same to Light.

"Come on, Ryuk," Light said as he motioned out the door. "We're getting out of here before-"

As he spoke, Mido's assistant showed up in the doorway, looking scared. "Light? _What the bloody hell are-_"

Light retrieved the gun, and another shot rang out.

Unlike L, he at least had the luxury of dying instantly.

"I don't think the doctor will be too happy about that," Light murmured, unfazed by the blood and small bits of cerebral organs on the wall. He'd shot the man square through his left eye, and he didn't look the least bit remorseful.

Not that L had expected him to be, of course.

"_Damn straight I'm not happy._"

With an expression that definitely qualified as "not happy," Mido appeared in the doorway.

_No! Run! Get away from Kira! He's going to-_

"Mido!" Light said, exasperated. "Don't give me an excuse to kill you too!"

"Oh, so you need an _excuse_ to kill me? What about _him?_" He jabbed his finger at his assistant's body in the middle of the hallway. "What did _he _ever do to you?"

Light's face hardened. "He would have stopped me from leaving. I knew outright that he didn't support what Kira was doing, so I killed him."

"And what about _me? Do my values seem that questionable to you?_"

Light paused and thought about that for a moment. "...No," he admitted, "but I do think that some people's values change when they are faced with death." He lifted his gun again. "So, Doctor Takeshi Mido. Your first step as a Kira follower will be to apologize for questioning me. Say it and you're forgiven."

Light didn't bother to list the other alternative.

* * *

**8:28:12 PM**

The entire time, L had been sitting three on the floor behind Light. Mido hadn't noticed him, and frankly that was alright because L figured the doctor was having a hard time handling the situation as it was.

Besides, L was _in pain_. The kind of pain that almost made him wish he had a gun to blow his own brains out. Coming from L, that was a huge deal, because never before in his twenty-odd years of life had he ever condoned suicide.

But the pain... It was as much of a hell as he could possibly imagine...

In that second, though, he forgot the pain.

Mido was about to be shot.

L had to _attempt_ to save him, at least.

"_Mido-san_," he said.

Or at least, he tried to say that. It probably came out a bit more garbled then he intended.

It did, however, get the doctor's attention. Mido's eyes got extrordinarily wide. "Ryuzaki? Are you-" He tried to step closer to L, but Light pointedly stopped him by waving the gun in his face.

"Mido-san..." he began again. He spoke in a voice so full of pain that it barely registered as his own, "I won't blame you... for wanting to live."

Light looked almost as though he had been preparing to kick L, but when he heard that sentence his expression became... softer, almost. As though he suddenly realized that, at some point, L had had the potential to be an awesome ally if he hadn't been Light's opposition. And for that, L was downright _glad_ he was dying. _But the doctor has a real choice..._

Mido only stared; he was to dumbfounded to answer.

Three seconds passed.

"_Well?_" Light asked.

Three more seconds.

The doctor clenched his fist, and Light's grip tightened on his gun.

But half of a second later, the doctor exhaled and hung his head. His hand opened in a gesture of surrender.

"I'm... _sorry,_" he said softly.

_Remorsefully._

_He will make a good supporter,_ L thought with regret.


	44. Played and Lost Regardless

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:29:02 PM**

"I'm sorry, Light," the doctor repeated in a numb tone. "I really am."

Light smoothly put the gun away back in his pocket and got out the notebook to carry under his arm. "Well," he said while examining the Death Note over, "I'm certainly glad you came to your senses-"

A gun was cocked.

"Frankly," Mido said cooly while handling a second Beretta, "I'm glad I did, too."

L found himself smirking._ Light - _Kira _- has just been played over._ It was an interesting prospect, to say the least.

Light stared at the gun - the gun pointed at his own skull - with a trace of fear and surprise. "...Well, doctor," he muttered, "are you putting on an act for _Ryuzaki_, or are you just a liar?"

"A liar? I am nothing of the sort!" Mido said simply. "I said I was sorry... Which I am. I've never really _wanted_ to kill anyone, but just because I'm sorry doesn't mean I won't."

"Kira is losing his touch," L said aloud.

With a sneer, Light kicked him. Hard.

"Stop it!" Mido shouted. "I swear to God, if you touch any more of my friends I _WILL_ kill you with my bare hands."

Light's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You consider _that_-" he motioned to L, "a friend?"

Mido didn't even pretend to hesitate. "He's more of a friend then you ever were."

And although L didn't know what having a friend was like, he knew that Mido was being completely honest.

"...Shame," Light murmured. "I was thinking that there was a _slight_ possibility I would let you live anyway, but... I don't think you deserve it." He glanced around the room, and his eyes finally settled on the notebook he had clasped under his arm. "Mido, what do you think is so special about this notebook?"

Mido eyed it cautiously. "...I haven't got the slightest idea."

But L did. "Mido-sa-" he began, but before he could finish Light interrupted him again.

"Regardless of what _Ryuzaki_ thinks," he spat, "what do you think this notebook is for?"

Mido didn't seem to be serious, but he guessed. "Um... It's a metephor for a 'little black book'?"

Light looked nearly impressed. "You're smarter than I thought."

He slowly opened it. Mido, presumably not seeing anything other than a notebook, made absolutely no movements to stop him.

But L knew. L knew exactly what Kira was going to do. "Mido-san," he said in the loudest voice he could muster, "_don't let him write in it!_"

The doctor turned his attention to L on the floor. "A _notebook_, Ryuzaki?" He sounded confused.

"Yes, Mido, a notebook." Light said smugly.

_Why isn't he stopping Kira?_ "Shoot him!" L practically screamed.

"Too late."

Light had scribbled a few kanji while Mido had had his attention fixed on L. He openly displayed the Death Note page to them.

三堂 健

The kanji for Takeshi Mido.


	45. Foreshadowed

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:32:47 PM **

"It's called a Death Note," Light said. "I write down the name of any person I want to die, and forty seconds later..." he began to grin, "they have a heart attack!" Like he had completely lost his mind, Light sunk to the floor in a fit of crazed laughter.

Mido hadn't moved. L was fairly certain he was in shock by now.

And he was going to die.

No... _they_ were going to die.

And there wasn't a single thing they could do about it.

Light's laughing fit ended when Mido pointed the gun at him again.

"Oh, come on!" he said. As much as he seemed elated, a trace of fear laced his expression. "It won't make any difference if you shoot me now. You can't save yourself by killing me!"

Mido tilted the Beretta and slid his finger onto the trigger. "Well, Light," he replied in a monotone voice, "if that's the case, and I really _am_ going to die, then I want to return the favor."

"No... _You wouldn't!_"

"See you in hell, _Kira_."

With one final, horrible look of recognition on Light's face, Mido shot him right between the eyes.


	46. By Any Other Name

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:33:01 PM**

As much as L always wanted for there to be a winner in the fight against Kira, they always seemed to tie in the end.

And this was almost certainly it. The End.

Light was unquestionably dead. Mido would be dead in about twenty-something seconds, and L would pass out in a matter of minutes and die within the next fifteen.

"Can you stand?"

L was startled out of his thoughts. "...What?"

"Can you stand?" Mido repeated.

L considered lying, but that would have been extremely stupid. "No."

"How bad are you-" Mido stopped midsentence. "_Is that your blood?_"

L glanced down at the towel Kira had tossed to him several minutes ago. Only now was blood beginning to soak through. "Maybe," L murmured. He glanced at the clock. Fifteen seconds left to Mido's life... "Mido-san, I'm sorry."

The doctor was next to L by then, forcing him to lie down while he looked over the bullet hole in his stomach. "Sorry for what? None of this is your fault."

"I'm sorry your going to die."

Mido glanced up at L then. "We all die sometime, Ryuzaki," he whispered softly.

"Not everyone dies ten seconds from now," L pointed out.

"...What makes you say that?"

"Because you will!" L insisted. "The rule is that 'The human whose name is written in this notebook will die'! _That's why I tried to get you to stop Light from writing anything!_"

The doctor just looked at him with steady eyes. "Honestly... I guessed that was the case already."

L stared. "And you _didn't stop him_? Kira wrote 'Takeshi Mido' in his Death Note thirty-three seconds ago!"

Mido blinked. With a steady voice, he answered.

"Well then... it's a good thing my name isn't really Takeshi Mido, isn't it?"


	47. To Vanish From Existence

**May 28, 2011**  
**8:33:31 PM**

L's head was spinning.

"Then... what _is_ your real name?" he asked in a whisper.

Mido paused before answering.

"Edward. My real name is Edward Rothschild."

He said it as though that explained it all.

And, amazingly, that was as much information as L would have ever needed.

* * *

Even that close to death, L's mind worked amazingly fast to place the name.

Edward Takeshi Rothschild: his billionaire father, James, had been a member of the English parliament, and his mother, Yumi (whose maiden name was Mido), had been a descendent of Japanese nobility. They'd lived in Dover and London until their son was thirteen.

Until they'd been killed.

The official story was that it had been a car accident - and technically it was. But very few car accidents involve bullets and a member of the government.

MI6, the English equivilant of the CIA, knew that it wasn't a true accident, but even then they were completely baffled. Although they had their resources and manpower, they were unable to track anyone down as the culprit.

That was where L came into play. Sure enough, he caught the person responsible - a native New Yorker named Lind Tailor. Later, L would use him as bait to prove that Kira was in Japan, but... that was getting off-track.

It said in a file somewhere that when Edward had learned of his parents' fate, he developed a strong will to survive - after the initial shock had worn off, the police said he'd been intent to learn how to defend himself. For a few days he was protected in police custody, and then he was given an alias that L was never told and taken to the closest thing he had to family, in Japan. His mother's cousin, Eigo Mido, essentially became his guardian, and it was practically guarenteed that the boy would be safe.

Edward Rothschild nearly disappeared.

But then... _incidents_ kept happening. There was a bomb on the subway that detonated just a few minutes after Edward's new "brother" would get off to head to his workplace. His "mother" received threatening emails from anonymous senders. His "father" was almost mugged. It got progressively worse, and L was told of every single thing that might have been relevent to the case. It was a good thing, too - he managed to trace the crime back to Tailor before any more real harm was done. Had it taken much longer, they all very well might have died.

But to L, that was the end of it. The case was closed, and the file belonging to it went in a cabinet somewhere to be forgotten.

And chances were, Edward Rothschild wouldn't have ever crossed his mind again.

* * *

"That's why you know karate and how to use a gun," L murmured. "That's how you were able to live underground this whole time without being paid. That's... that's why your so _paranoid_."

Mido was too busy trying to bandage L's stomach to look up. "Yes."

"That's why you lied..."

That caused the doctor's head to snap upward with an expression that was confused and almost horrified. "_What?_"

"You lied," L said simply, "when you were saying that you brought me back to catch Kira. You really did it because..."

_Because I saved your life when you were thirteen._

Mido's face softened and he offered a small smile. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... You saved me, I gave you another chance."

He turned back to his work. A few seconds later L felt a very distinct pain cutting through his abdomen, and he forced himself to hold back a small shriek.

"God _dammit_," Mido swore. "Ryuzaki, are you in a little bit of pain right now?"

"Only if the ocean contains _a little bit of water_," he retorted.

"...Point taken." Mido stood up and ran over to a cupboard. After digging around in it for a few seconds, he pulled out a syringe and a vial filled with clear liquid. "Do you know what this is?"

L guessed. "Insulin."

The uncharacteristic sarcasm was lost on the doctor. "Its a very strong sedative," Mido explained. "It will completely take away the pain, but it'll make you very tired; I'll give it to you _only_ if you promise me that you'll try your best to remain conscious."

"I'll promise," L murmured back, "but only if you swear that, if you can't stop me from dying, you won't bring me back to life again."

L hadn't planned on saying that; it just came out. The instant he said it, though, he knew it was the right decision.

Anything to discourage Mido from bringing back another Light Yagami.

The doctor stared at him. "I swear I won't let you die again, but... in case it does happen... are you _sure_?"

L nodded.

"Alright then..." Mido said with sad eyes. "You have my word."

"And you have mine."

L was fairly sure that was a lie.

As much as Mido was optimistic, L was more inclined to look at the facts. He'd been shot in the stomach, punched, kicked, and hit on the head. He had been expecting that he'd be dead by now, and although he wasn't gone yet, he knew the odds he'd survive even to see May 29 were less than 5% and fading fast.

He barely noticed the needle being inserted into his arm. But he definitely noted the effects of the drug: even three seconds later, he felt significantly sleepier.

"Mido-san... were you telling the truth?"

"About what?"

Mido's face became blurry. "When you said that I was your friend."

"Of course I - dammit! _You promised to stay awake!_"

"I... _am... _awake..."

Things were fading fast.

"Mido... I..."

"Ryuzaki? _Ryuzaki?_"

The drug was too strong - now L could barely make out the outline of the doctor against the bright lights above his head.

"_DAMMIT L, SAY SOMETHING!_"

He had to speak. One last time.

"Just... thank... you."

"_L!_"

L didn't hear him anymore; only one distant, remeniscent thought passed through his mind before he gave in to the drug's effects.

_I... I knew it..._

_I wasn't wrong..._

_And..._

_I..._

Won...

_Finally._

With a final shuddering breath, L closed his eyes.


	48. Soliloquy

...Apparently, he wasn't dead.

Yet.

He didn't know exactly how long he'd been here, but it seemed to him that it hadn't been very long. It seemed almost corny to him, because he'd already had what he believed _should_ have been his last thought... but maybe not.

It was sort of confusing, not to mention annoying.

His second time dying, and not even he knew quite what was going on.

The heart attack that had killed him the first time didn't leave him _here_, somewhere in what was probably purgatory - the first time, he'd just gone straight into cold, unfeeling death. But for the moment he had lost consciousness, yet wasn't dead and still seemed perfectly capable of carrying on thought.

And strangely, only one thought seemed to come to mind.

...But _really?_

_Shakespeare?_

Of course it was Hamlet. Death, death, and more death was all the play was really about, but in the strangest ways it reminded him of the Kira case...

Indeed; he'd sent Near that message so many months ago with only a portion of a line, knowing that his successor would be smart enough to catch the very subtle clue within it.

_"To be or not to be..."_

It was only mentioned once, in one of the few conversations he'd ever had with the residents at Wammy's House. He'd been connected to them via the standard laptop; they'd been asking questions, and he'd been answering them. Most of them were things like, "Have you been to...?" and, "What made you do...?" Not many stood out in his mind, although he had perhaps scarred them with an unorthodox response to the question "What are you afraid of?"

However: neither Near nor Mello had spoken a single word that L could recall. They were listening, certainly, but they did so with a hostile look in their eyes. It set them apart from the others, and it was why he'd eventually chosen them as his top two successors.

Matt, who became third, didn't speak much; however, he did ask a question. Just one, and it seemed rather out-of-character compared to what L had seen and heard of him from beforehand.

"What's your favorite Shakespeare play?"

Some of the other children had snickered at that, but L definitely answered the question.

"'To be or not to be'," he began, "'that is the question'..."

_Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer_  
_The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,_  
_Or to take arms against a sea of troubles_  
_And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep_  
_No more – and by a sleep to say we end_  
_The heartache and the thousand natural shocks_  
_That flesh is heir to – 'tis a consummation_  
_Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep_  
_To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,_  
_For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,_  
_When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,_  
_Must give us pause. There's the respect_  
_That makes calamity of so long life._  
_For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,_  
_Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,_  
_The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,_  
_The insolence of office, and the spurns_  
_That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,_  
_When he himself might his quietus make_  
_With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,_  
_To grunt and sweat under a weary life,_  
_But that the dread of something after death,_  
_The undiscovered country from whose bourn_  
_No traveler returns, puzzles the will_  
_And makes us rather bear those ills we have_  
_Than fly to others that we know not of?_  
_Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,_  
_And thus the native hue of resolution_  
_Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,_  
_And enterprises of great pitch and moment_  
_With this regard their currents turn awry,_  
_And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!_  
_The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons_  
_Be all my sins remembered._

Everyone was quiet by the end of his short speech. Some of the children looked almost dumbfounded, and a few appeared rather skeptical.

Matt just nodded his head. "Hamlet, Act III, Scene i... Nice." He turned back to his GameBoy without another word.

"So... why Hamlet?" one girl asked.

On his end of the connection, L smirked. "Because," he replied, "I find myself facing the prince Hamlet's problems every day."

_Shouldn't these children know these things by now?_ he wondered silently. Then again, it was probably one thing to hear about him from teachers and quite another to hear about him directly from the great detective himself.

"But you're not a prince!" one boy shouted.

"No, but I do face difficult choices. In my profession," L explained, "I am constantly forced to make nearly impossible decisions and prioritize what is important to me."

"You prioritize the law, right?" someone asked.

"Perhaps," he allowed, "but how many laws do you think I follow when working on certain cases?"

"All of them?"

"...Almost none of them, actually. It is not that I don't follow some of the rules - like traffic signals, for example - but the problem with many investigative offices is that they are restricted to the law. When a particularly difficult case comes up, they call me because they know that no matter what it takes, I solve the case. It's one of the advantages to my position... It can also be a nightmare."

"What's so bad about it?"

"...Because it means that I often send people to die."

Nobody spoke. The room was completely silent as they all stared at the laptop with wide eyes.

Matt was no longer playing his GameBoy, Mello was no longer eating his chocolate bar, and Near was no longer concentrating on his toys.

All of them had the same look in their eyes now.

"Do not get me wrong," L continued softly. "I know that it's necessary, and that it is a task that needs to be done. But that doesn't make it easier... That being said, whoever should take this position after me must be very strong... No, they have to be more than strong: they must be the best. Be the smartest, be the strongest, be firm in their beliefs. I cautiously add that perhaps at your best, some of you will beat me. That's fine. If that happens..."

He trailed off.

"What if that happens?" one small child asked.

L paused and responded generically, but he didn't tell them what was really running through his head.

_If that happens, then you have become a monster._

* * *

At some point later, he realized _why _Near, Mello, and later Matt had had that very nasty gleam in their eyes.

It was because they _knew_. They knew not who he was, where he was, or even what his name was. But they did know one thing that was infinitely important.

They knew he was downright lying.

When L had been asked what he was most afraid of, he'd admitted it was monsters. Especially lying monsters. He'd also admitted that he himself was a lying monster. Most of the children heard that and, rationally speaking, knew that while L might lie, he wouldn't do that to _them_. When the conversation had moved on to his explaination on Hamlet, being strong, and sending people to die for their crimes, the children had all unconciously been assuring themselves that L was their idol and that he was being honest - he _hated_ to have people die at his order. L understood human nature, and he was 99.9% sure that was what those children had been thinking.

However.

Near, Mello, and Matt each saw through it.

The three of them knew: they hadn't forgotten the earlier lesson just because it was applying to someone they believed in and idolized. They were smart enough to remove the rose-colored glasses. It seemed silly, that they were the only three that had the correct mentality on the situation, but L had knew enough about human nature to say confidently that they were three in a million - they completely trusted absolutely no one in the world, and they especially didn't trust him.

L never met any of them in person as himself except for Mello, who was able to figure him out. Never once, as L or as a stranger with an alias, had Mello not been analyzing him over and questioning everything he said.

"_Hey L_," he'd asked. "_Why'd you lie that one time when you said you didn't like to send criminals to the chair?_"

L glanced at him, frowning slightly at Mello's blunt choice of words. "_...Would you rather hear another lie_," he asked in reply, "_or hear the truth?_"

But Mello already knew the truth. So did Near and Matt.

Just because L didn't regret the deaths of those evil didn't mean he reveled in them either.

But feeling indifferent still made him a monster.

A lying, emotionless monster.

* * *

And now, all he could do was remember, barely consciously, what Shakespeare had written.

_Thus conscience does make cowards of us all..._

It was true: conscience really did do terrible things to one's professional life when it became involved. L himself could testify to that, because the only case that directly involved him personally was the Kira case - and that didn't turn out very well for him.

But.

L had entirely forgotten that Hamlet, before his death, really _did_ find an answer to his question.

_Let be._

Human nature couldn't be changed. Repressed, perhaps, but never completely overridden. After his first death, L had begun to see that, but he never had really let that take root in his mind. He still acted logically and detached, but it wasn't quite the same. Seeing Light had done it. For the first time in his life, L wanted to kill someone with his bare hands - and was completely willing to do it, too. He'd let his complete rage take over, and finally he understood the concept of revenge and why it felt so damn _good_.

And he'd learned something else.

When Mido had said L was his friend.

_"You consider _this_ a friend?"_

_"He's more of a friend than you ever were."_

The doctor _could _have denied it. He could have simply said, "_No_," and Light wouldn't have even attempted to kill him for the final time.

But he didn't. He'd openly said so while staring his potential murderer straight in the eye.

...

Did conscience really make men cowards?

...

_Let be._

But it was too late to worry about that.

_Whatever will happen will happen..._

_Mido won't bring me back a second time._

The last real thought of comfort L could remember was that Shakespeare was right.

_To die,_  
_To sleep;_  
_To sleep,_  
_Perchance to dream._

And then the dream swallowed him whole, and he knew no more.


	49. Promises, Promises

It was white...

It was black...

Somehow, both adjectives applied perfectly.

It was absolutely and completely blank.

It was Nothing.

No, honestly: one cannot possibly describe the feeling that was felt in the whiteness, the sense of total darkness, the sense of Nothing.

...Nothing...

...The word was a failure. It didn't mean anything in any form other than the one that was felt now... Or was it lack of form that was the true definition of Nothing?

He didn't know.

It bugged him, just a little bit. He _didn't know_. This was a new feeling, because being nothing meant being everything. Nothing and Everything were Yin and Yang to each other, where one could not exist without the other.

It was an interesting thought.

...

Wait a moment.

Then... if he was Nothing... and Everything... but more importantly, if he was Nothing At All...

How could he be thinking?

...

And all at once, the illusion was shattered.

* * *

**June 1, 2011**  
**12:09 AM**

His eyes fluttered open.

A bright light was on the ceiling above his head. A few strands of hair were in his eyes, obscuring his vision just a bit. A thin blanket covered him up to his shoulders.

Across the room, someone snored.

In a bit of a daze, he sat up in the bed. With calm eyes, he took in his surroundings.

_White walls. Underground. Beeping machine. A tall man with closed green eyes and brown - no, _chestnut _- hair._

...It gave him an incredibly annoying sense of dejà vú.

To complete the scene, there was a small vase of flowers on a table next to the bed. After removing the plants, he chucked the vase across the room as hard as he could, and it shattered with a satisfying crash on the wall.

The doctor awoke with a start.

"What the-? _Ryuzaki!_" He outright grinned. "_You're awake!_"

L glared daggers.

"Mido-san, you have some explaining to do," he said harshly.

Mido's smile disappeared. "It seems pretty self-explanatory to me."

"_Mido-san!_"

"What?" he asked. "Ryuzaki, friends don't let friends _die_!"

"_Friends don't bring friends back to life!_" L shouted back.

"I..." Mido frowned at first, but then his expression changed and he tried to stifle a grin. "Oh, that's what...!"

And just like that, the doctor was laughing.

_He's probably delusional; lack of sleep, perhaps? _L raised an eyebrow. "I would appreciate knowing what's so funny about this situation."

"I - I - I _didn't_bring you back again, that's what's so funny!" Mido rubbed an eye where small tears were beginning to form. "You just went and _assumed_ that I'd broken my promise to you about that before even asking what the hell happened... And they call you 'The World's Greatest Detective'... _HAH!_"

L wasn't sure what his reaction was supposed to be to that.

After precisely two and a quarter seconds of thought, he settled for softly laughing along with the doctor.

* * *

"Mido-san," he asked some time later, "what did you do after I passed out?"

Mido was now sitting next to him, stuck fast to a folding chair while L was confined to bed and eating ice cream (strangely enough, the doctor hadn't complained about that one bit). He considered his response a moment before answering, "I just... _did_. Automatically... without thinking. I fixed you up as best I could, I phoned the team - Oh, you probably want to talk to them, don't you?"

L glanced at the clock. "Perhaps later. Twelve-thirty in the morning isn't the ideal time to call someone."

"True..." Mido hesitated. "Anyway, I told them what had happened, and they helped me... clean up all the bodies and blood... and since then, I've more or less been sitting here waiting for you to wake up."

"What about the notebook?"

"We didn't do anything with it," Mido said. "It's in the cupboard if you want to see it."

"Please."

Mido got up to retrieve the Death Note, and he returned and handed it to L. "It's... technically mine now," he added, "because I was the first person to pick it up after Light had died. I had Ryuk explain all the rules to me."

_Hmm... _L had all but forgotten about the shinigami. "Where is Ryuk?" he asked, glancing around.

"He's sitting upstairs. Apparently he's well entertained with just an old Nintendo and a crate of apples," Mido said, a hint of a smile on his face. "He didn't want to hang around you because of... erm, your lifespan. Or lack thereof."

"Ah. I see..." L paused. "Mido-san, why didn't you stop Light?"

The doctor looked confused. "What do you mean?"

L gazed at him imploringly. "I _know_ you had cameras installed in that room, and that you were probably watching them with your assistant to make sure I wasn't hiding something... but why did you wait so long to come out and kill Light?"

Mido didn't answer for a minute, but when he did it was - somehow - exactly what L needed to hear.

"Because... it wasn't my fight to win."

L just nodded to himself.

* * *

"You know," he said, "you never did tell me what drug you gave me to get rid of the pain."

For a moment, Mido had a complete and utter deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. "Erm, well, you see, aah..."

"The truth, Mido-san," L said pointedly.

Finally the doctor sighed. "I don't have a name for it, actually. I developed it myself..." Suddenly he changed the subject. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Hmm?" L bit his thumb.

"I knew you would pass out, no matter what stupid promises I had you make."

L frowned. "So why did you make me say that?"

"Because ultimately I... I wanted to feel better knowing that you broke your promise of passing out before I broke my promise of not bringing you back to life."

L started up again, "Mido-san! _You said you didn't_-"

"And it's the truth!" Mido defended himself, hands in the air. "I just wasn't 100% sure it was the truth at the time."

After considering that, L dropped the subject. "Back to my original question," he said.

Hesitating, Mido said, "It was the same drug that I gave to you on January 31 of this year."

L raised an eyebrow. "The final drug that brought me back to life?"

"The one and only. It doesn't specifically bring people back from the dead, per se - what it really does is sustain and restart life."

L thought that over, and slowly he nodded his head. "It kept me alive while you were bandaging me... What's the main ingredient?"

Mido frowned. "I promised you I would never tell you that!"

"You made me break a promise," L pushed, "and you would be a fool to think that you can't trust me by now."

Finally, after several moments of mental debate, the doctor sighed. "You probably won't believe me, but... _sand_."

_...?_

Well.

L hadn't known what to expect for an answer, but that definitely was not it. "_...Sand_," he repeated, skeptical.

Mido nodded. "I found a container full of sand in a storage rooms one day. It was labeled 'REM,' so I freaked out because I thought it had something to do with nuclear physics and radiation. But then I looked at a small sample of it under a microscope, and it was..." The doctor seemed at a loss for words. "...I just can't describe it, but... I just _knew_. In that moment, I knew that I'd found something absolutely supernatural. And right about then was when I figured out that I was going to bring you back, because before that point you were just another body in my over-sized freezer," Mido finished all in one breath. "...Erm... sorry," he added sheepishly, "that sounded really cheesy..."

L was at a loss for words. Other then, perhaps, the word "irony."

Rem had killed him... and it was because of Rem that he'd gotten the chance to live again.

..."Irony" seemed to be a rather mild adjective, actually.

"Interesting," was all L said aloud.

The doctor just nodded in agreement.

* * *

"I don't understand your reasoning," L admitted a short time later.

"My reasoning with what?" Mido asked, confused.

"You wanted to catch Kira - but Kira killed Lind L. Tailor, who murdered your parents," he explained. "I also know for a fact that you were told of the incident... One would think that logical reasoning would lead you to revering Kira instead of hating him."

"...Well, for the record I didn't exactly _hate_Kira," the doctor corrected, "but I definitely didn't feel the need to become a Kira follower. What I wanted to happen... Oh Lord... erm, this is going to sound _really_ bad. I didn't want Lind L. Tailor to have a split-second heart attack when he died: I really sort of wished that he would had died a bit more... _painfully_."

L raised an eyebrow.

"I told you it sounded bad," Mido responded meekly.

"No," L said softly. "He destroyed your life... To me that isn't a completely foreign idea."

"Well, you are a detective. I suppose you used to deal with that sort of thing all the-" Mido paused, and a curious look of realization came onto his face. "...But that isn't what you meant. You wanted to kill Light yourself, didn't you?"

"..." L was silent.

"In a manner a bit more painful than a heart attack, right?"

"Perhaps," he muttered.

"...Now that I think about it, neither of us is especially bad because of it," Mido admitted.

"...Maybe you're right," L said quietly. "It doesn't sound bad... It just sounds human."

* * *

"Hey, L?" the doctor asked.

"Hmm?"

"When I said that I was your friend, I honestly meant it. You're one of the few things in the world I think I can really hold on to after all of... _this_."

The deaths, the wounds, the weight of everything that had happened on their shoulders.

"I'm not trying to pressure you into saying that much back to me," he quickly added. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew I was serious."

"...Mido-san..."

L paused as he thought about the doctor's words.

"...I'm not 100% sure I can say the same, because I've never had a friend..."

Mido's expression was completely blank.

"...But I do know something that I can say for certain about the subject that might almost be as good."

The doctor tilted his head with a slightly puzzled look on his face. "What would that be?"

L looked him right in the eyes.

"When you call me your friend, I believe you."

And even Mido knew that coming from L, that meant more than anything else the detective could have said.

* * *

"I don't know how to put this," Mido said, "but what happens next?"

"...In our lives, you mean?"

"Well, yeah. What are we going to do now?"

For a moment they were silent.

"I hope you don't mind," L said softly, "but I have a vague idea..."


	50. Epilogue Part I, Apples to Ashes

Only someone with an awful lot of time to explore would know that Wammy's House had a graveyard.

Most thought that the property extended only to the fence line, near a small grove of trees, but it actually went much farther than that. The aforementioned trees lasted for about half of a mile before thinning out into a small meadow, then the forest began again and went on for several more miles along with the property owned by Wammy's.

The meadow contained the graveyard.

It wasn't a big graveyard, by any means. There weren't even half a dozen tombstones, but they were all lined up in a neat row. All the inhabitants were buried within the past ten years.

All of them remain virtually anonymous.

No dates. No personal information.

Not even their full names.

* * *

A. Samson  
_Where, O death, is your victory?_  
_(1 Corinthians 16:55)_

B. Barker  
_For now I would be lying down in peace;_  
_I would be asleep and at rest._  
_(Job 3:13)_

M. Jeevas  
_I will fear no evil_  
_for you are with me._  
_(Psalm 23:4)_

M. Keehl  
_The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen._  
_(Revelation 22:21)_

* * *

**November 4, 2011**  
**2:07 PM**

The newfallen snow looked absolutely beautiful, and Mido couldn't get enough of it.

He hadn't seen English snow for more than fifteen years, and when he'd seen the glorious flakes falling yesterday morning the doctor had almost cried out of happiness. Snow in Japan was unexplainably different than snow in the English countryside: dirtier, not as crisp, and maybe even less sparkly. He'd been missing the northern winters for more years than he cared to count, and they just weren't the same as the cool "winter season" in Tokyo.

At least, that's what Mido could have sworn that early afternoon as he stood quietly out on his own and observed Wammy's small graveyard.

...Well, he was alone at that exact moment. But he wasn't an idiot: he heard that someone was walking up behind him. _They probably think I'm meditating on death or something._

"You're back here again?"

Mido smirked as he recognized the voice and glanced over his shoulder. "It's... calm here."

A laugh. "Calm? It's bloody _freezing_! You're not considering bringing these people back to life, are you?"

He snorted. _It's not _that _cold_, Mido thought as he completely turned around to face his former secretary. "You know couldn't do that to a half-decayed corpse... Actually most of these bodies have been burned from what I understand. And besides, you also know that I learned my lesson."

"What," she asked, "don't bring people back from the dead?"

"No," he said, "don't do something when it's _clear_ my wife doesn't think it's a good idea."

His secretary - his spouse - chuckled to herself and couldn't help but glance at the new diamond ring on her finger. "Wow. Only two months and you've already learned."

He smiled. "I don't teach here for nothing."

"No kidding. I swear, you're the only person on the payroll without a degree from Harvard or Princeton."

For a moment they stood in silence.

"Who were they?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, the graves are new, but they don't have standard information on them..."

"Only three people - three_ living _people - seem to know," Mido said. "One is L. The other is Roger."

"Lemme guess... you're the third lucky one to be informed?"

"And if you get your way, you're going to be the fourth." He sighed.

"Of course."

The doctor paused. _What could it hurt?_ Slowly he began, "A. Samson and B. Barker were the first two children to be brought to the orphanage several years ago. From what I understand, anyone worth asking for information is... rather reluctant to talk about them much. I don't know exactly why, but A apparently committed suicide and burned himself to death."

His wife inhaled sharply.

Mido winced, then continued, "A few years later, B attempted to do the same after killing three people in Los Angeles and trying to create a homicide case that L couldn't solve. He was caught, however, and ended up living the rest of his life in a California prison before being killed by Kira only a year afterward."

"...It all comes down to Kira, doesn't it?" she whispered.

The doctor just nodded.

"Who were the two M's?"

"They were the second and third ranked at Wammys when Kira killed L," he said, "and they both died on what was basically a suicide mission." His expression became sour. "It is actually quite unlikely that Light would have been stopped as Kira had they not died, though. Even Near admitted that much."

"They should get more credit then this," she muttered under her breath.

Mido thought about it before shrugging. "Maybe so."

"...And... I don't suppose I have to ask about the final tombstone," she whispered.

Almost painfully, the doctor glanced at the last effigy in the row.

* * *

N. River  
_The fruit of righteousness will be peace._  
_(Isaiah 32:17)_

* * *

"Did it hurt?" she asked. "Giving it up, I mean."

"Burying Near for good?" He thought for a moment. "Yes. Yes it did hurt at first."

The look on her face became one of concern. "Does it hurt now?"

He closed his eyes and answered, "No. Not at all."

She frowned slightly. "What made that change?"

He swallowed and exhaled. "When L told me to stop... to give up... I couldn't understand his reasoning." He paused. "No, that's not right. His reasoning was justified: he wanted to make sure that no other dangerous person was ever brought back again. I got that much, but... I couldn't get over what it would mean for me and the future. I didn't want to give up the only life I knew just because he thought it would be better that way. Hell, I didn't want to face the world again after all that. And... what's more... I couldn't understand how he was so cold when it came to the decision. Near was like a family member to him, and for him to drop any hope of bringing him back to life... It made me _mad_, because it didn't register as right."

They were silent for a moment as Mido's wife took in what he had said.

"I see your point... But you didn't answer my question. Why doesn't it hurt any more?"

There was a long pause, and finally Mido sighed. "I convinced myself that I was being a selfish prick, first, and then forever guarenteed that I would have an exciting life by getting married."

Mrs. Mido tried to disguise a small giggle.

He smiled and rolled his eyes in a joking manner. Slowly, though, his face became serious again. "But... while those were both good reasons to move on physically, mentally I didn't feel sound with my plan at all." He slowly exhaled as he gathered his thoughts.

His wife's concern was back. "So... you technically still haven't answered my question."

"...I'm not going to get out of this one, am I?"

"Nope."

The doctor pursed his lips. "I let it go completely, but only because... L told me... about Afterwards. Only then was I really able to bury Near with a clear mentality."

She frowned. "Afterwards?"

Mido met her gaze. "_Afterwards._"

Clearly she was confused, but after several moments her eyes widened in realization. "Oh. _The_ Afterwards."

The doctor offered a small smile and nodded.

"What... did he tell you about it, exactly?"

"Just one word. But that was all he needed to say."

"...What was it?"

The doctor blinked. He looked at her. He looked at the gravestones. Then he looked up at the sky before closing his eyes and softly replying.

"Peaceful."

And somehow, that was all the explaination anyone could have ever asked for.

"You know," he confessed, "sometimes I wonder of that was my real reason for bringing back the dead in the first place. I didn't know L or Light, and though I felt indebted to L and Mr. Yagami I doubt that alone was enough to motivate me. But... to _know_ what comes after death... that's all that really matters, you know? I mean, it's not to say that you can't live life or anything, but... we'll all die someday."

She nodded. "I get it. _'By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.'_"

"...God said that in Genesis, right?"

She nodded. "It's a part of the ultimate statistic: ten out of ten people die. So we had better be damn sure what happens on the other side before we die, because this is the hand of the game that counts. Is that basically your way of justifying everything you did for L and Light?"

"...I did it for _them_?"

She shrugged. "Well, they both got another chance. So maybe Light didn't deserve it, but at least L will end up dying happy because he made the world better." She turned to face Mido. "They get to live again, and you get the answer to the most important question any person has ever faced handed to you on a silver platter. Everybody wins, no matter how you look at it."

They were both silent as they mused over all of what they had said.

"I don't deserve you," he muttered.

She smiled softly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"...L got lucky," she whispered.

"Hmm?" He turned to her, confused.

"Well... he did get another chance at life."

He raised an eyebrow. "You call that lucky?"

"Near didn't get that chance, did he?" She turned back to the graves. "I consider L lucky, then."

"Well..."

Mido thought about that for a good long minute.

"Honestly... Sometimes I wonder which of the two is better off."

"Hmm..." She opted not to comment and glanced at her watch. "Come on, Mr. Philosophy, you've got a class to teach soon."

"Alright. You start to bead back; I'll catch up with you in a moment."

Slowly she turned around and reluctantly headed into the trees.

Mido slowly walked forward, closer to the tombstones. He carefully went over them all again and questioned it all in his head.

_Where, O death, is your victory?_  
_(1 Corinthians 16:55)_

_For now I would be lying down in peace;_  
_I would be asleep and at rest._  
_(Job 3:13)_

_I will fear no evil_  
_for you are with me._  
_(Psalm 23:4)_

_The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen._  
_(Revelation 22:21)_

He knew in the back of his head that he should be getting back. He knew that he wouldn't be able to leave the last grave easily.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from looking anyway.

_The fruit of righteousness will be peace._  
_(Isaiah 32:17)_

"The fruit of righteousness will be peace..." he mumbled. "The fruit of _righteousness_... will be peace... The _fruit_... of righteousness will be _peace_... The _fruit_..."

That reminded him of something.

Mido reached into his pocket and pulled out a small apple. He'd been planning on eating it later, but somehow this just seemed... right. He stooped on the ground and set it on top of the pure white snow that rested above the grave belonging to N. River.

"From one human to another," he whispered.


	51. Epilogue Part II, Death To Life

**November 5, 2011**  
**3:44 PM**

November 5 wasn't as depressing for Matsuda as it once was.

When they had been working on the original Kira case, while Light was still alive, it had been a somber date for everyone - like a reminder that at any moment, they could die of heart attacks just as L and Watari had.

But now, they all felt differently about it. There wasn't any reason to be depressed anymore... Matsuda absentmindedly thought that maybe he could convince the team to get together and go out for a celebration, but then he realized it sort of defeated the purpose if L wasn't there.

_...Where _is_ Ryuzaki these days?_ he wondered as he stared out the window. None of the Japanese investigators had heard from him for several months, since they'd said goodbye to L, Mido, and the SPK. Mido occasionally sent them letters with English postage, and the SPK kept in touch every once in a while.

L, however, had become a voice on the computer once again.

That wasn't to say that they hadn't heard _of_ him since then - on a regular basis, news reached them of extremely difficult cases being solved, all of them doubtlessly his work. But Matsuda couldn't help but wonder _where_ he was and how he was doing.

_Maybe he's in England with Mido? Or America with the SPK? But the last case we heard of involving him was in Russia, so he could be there... Or maybe, just _maybe_, he could be-_

"Hey, Matsuda."

Matsuda almost fell out of his chair. "Jeez, Yamamoto, don't _do_ that!"

"Sorry... Are you okay?" Yamamoto eyed him suspiciously. "You were staring out the window so hard I thought you were trying to break the glass."

"Really?" Matsuda glanced outside again. "I'm fine, I was just... thinking."

"Then you're obviously not busy. Wanna help me with some paperwork?"

Matsuda snorted. "Not for free I won't."

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I _could_ tell Aizawa who keeps calling him at two in the morning to tell him his refrigerator is running away..."

"Whoa whoa _WHOA_, don't you _dare_!" Matsuda practically jumped out of his seat. "Where's this paperwork?"

His friend snickered. ""I'll bring it here. Wait just a minute." He left the room, and Matsuda stared out the window while waiting for him. _Where is L...?_

If he'd looked just a second sooner, it was possible that he might have seen the odd black wings descending from the clouds across the city.

* * *

**3:57 PM**

L was always a man of bitter irony.

He'd been taken from the scene of a crime at a young age to become a detective who was one of the biggest criminals on the planet. He'd been praised for his work by the best justice systems in the world while he followed very little of their rules or protocols. He'd been the first man in the history of the planet to be brought back to life, and his "arch nemesis" of sorts became the second.

Now L was standing on his own grave with a giant grin on his face.

He halfway wished that he could keep his mouth in a straight line and act like this was no big deal, but he couldn't help it. The whole concept of it was completely ridiculous! He was standing on his own _damn_ grave looking at the unmarked tomb when he should have been two yards beneath his own feet!

_I _really_ ought to stop grinning before somebody sees me..._

With a bit of a sigh, he repressed his superior mood and let his face fall into it's normal expression of indifference. Softly he stepped closer to the bronze cross that was there in place of a tombstone and gently ran his hand over the left arm. He traced some of the designs with a wandering finger. _Yagami-san chose a nice marker_, he thought.

As he was thinking to himself, he heard a soft _thump_ and familiar chortling. "Hyuk hyuk hyuk. What're you doin' here?"

L glanced backwards to find Ryuk standing behind him. "I could ask you the same thing. I thought you were staying with Mido."

The shinigami shrugged. "Meh. Got bored. Didn't feel like killing anyone. So, I figured I'd see what you were doing."

"Me? I'm just... thinking." He looked away and placed his attention back on the marker.

"You humans think too much. And you get too obsessive over gravestones."

L paused and actually turned around at that. "What makes you say so?"

"Light came here sometimes. To laugh at you, I guess."

...Well, L certainly wouldn't have put it past him. "Did he?"

"Huh?"

"Did he laugh?"

"Oh, yeah. You know what he was doing in the basement when he thought you and Eddie were going to die?"

It took L a moment to realize that Ryuk was referring to Mido. "Light laughed like that?"

"Yeah. It was kinda... funny and depressing at the same time."

L changed the subject. "Does the doctor appreciate that you refer to him as 'Eddie'?"

Ryuk grinned. "Nah. He throws hissy fits when I call him that, but since I have to generally stick around him he doesn't have a choice."

L realized he was smiling lightly at the thought of Mido throwing a "hissy fit" over anything. "You don't have to hang around him anymore," L announced.

"I don't?"

"Not after today, anyway." L reached into his thin jacket and pulled out a familiar black notebook. "When I last saw him a few days ago, he gave up ownership of the notebook to me."

"...Well, I wouldn't have known that, I guess... Wait, then how could he still see me?"

"He never wrote in it," L explained, "so apparently his memories of the Death Note remain, and he can see you just fine because he touched it after it became mine."

Ryuk scratched his head. "Well, I guess it worked... So what're you doing here with it?"

"...Me?" L thought for a moment before reaching into his pocket. "Well, since we had you test it out for us and we learned that it was real..." He pulled out a lighter.

Ryuk looked slightly irritated. "So that's it? When you found out that the damn thing isn't a fake you decided to destroy it? You aren't gonna give it back to me or nothin'?"

L shook his head and got a flame. "No: it's better this way."

"But then I'll be bored again without someone using it to entertain me! What if I said I was gonna write your name down and stop you from-?" Ryuk stopped midsentence and almost physically slumped over. "Oh... That's why you had Mido give it to _you,_ so I can't do a damn thing about you burning it to a crisp."

"Correct. Death Notes have no power over me anymore - I might as well use it to my advantage."

The corner of the notebook caught fire.

Ryuk sighed, rolled his eyes, and stretched out his wings. "You don' mind if I go now, do ya?"

"That's fine. Goodbye, Ryuk-san."

"Whatever." Without looking back, Ryuk took flight and headed into the cloudy sky.

For the last time that L would ever be aware of, the shinigami left earth for his own realm.

* * *

While standing there watching the Death Note burn, L's cellphone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.

_Roger..._

Near's Watari had stayed out of the Kira case at the younger's request, and after Near's death he had voluntarily taken up the position of Watari once again for the original L. Assuming the call was important, L picked up. "Yes, Roger?"

"I have another top-priority case for you," he said. "Several million dollars were stolen from a series of banks and casinos at 44° 22' 36" N, 103° 43' 45" W. The FBI has requested help, because they can't find either the culprits or the money."

"Isn't that sort of a given?" L pointed out. "If they can't find the people responsible, what is the likelihood they'll find the stolen goods?"

Roger cleared his throat. "_Anyway_," he emphasized, "you'll be staying in a nearby town to work on the investigation, but you need to catch a flight in a few hours. I have the information for you already in the hotel room."

"Good. I'll be there shortly." He hung up.

Without so much as a glance backward at his grave, L left to go and find a taxi.

Life went on.

* * *

After a few more minutes, the notebook was gone, leaving no more than a smoldering pile of ashes to be carried away by the evening breeze.

* * *

**Finis**


End file.
